MINNEAPOLIS – The Nets won their third straight game – as well as their 10th in 11 games in January and their 12th in 14 games under interim coach P.J. Carlesimo – in defeating the Timberwolves 91-83 inside Target Center Wednesday night.
Here are some of my thoughts on the game:
— Look, the bottom line is that the Nets took care of business in this one. Should they have made this one a laugher sooner than they did? Yes. They committed too many turnovers, and Carlesimo had some questionable rotation strategies – particularly not playing Brook Lopez enough, particularly in the first half. But, in the end none of that really matters.
The Nets needed to leave here with a victory, especially with a very difficult back-to-back in Memphis and Houston this weekend on the horizon. Now, at worst, the Nets are going to head home with a 2-2 road trip, which will be a success almost regardless of what happens in these final two games. The path to the win may not have been as pretty as fans would have liked to see it, but a win is a win.
— Despite only playing 26 minutes, Lopez was terrific, as he was expected to be with both Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic out with injuries. Lopez finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots, making a final impression before the reserves for next month’s All-Star Game are announced Thursday night.
Will Lopez be watching? He claims that he won’t. “No, no … you know I never watch any of that stuff,” Lopez said with a smile, before adding, “I’ll probably be sitting in my room with the lights turned off, doing nothing.”
Even though he likes to downplay it, there’s no question that Lopez will be intently paying attention tomorrow, and hoping he’ll make his first All-Star team. It will be a travesty if Lopez doesn’t make it, as he’s easily been the best and most consistent player on the Nets this season (the Nets are 23-11 when he plays, and 2-5 when he doesn’t).
— The Nets have become accustomed to getting even production from their big three of Lopez, Deron Williams and Joe Johnson, and got it again Wednesday night as Lopez finished with 22 points and Williams and Johnson both had 18.
With the three of them all going at the same time, it’s hard for defenses to key on any one of them at a given time. That’s allowed the Nets to have the kind of flexibility offensively that they had planned on when general manager Billy King constructed the roster this summer.
— C.J. Watson has been inconsistent at times this season, but you can argue that he – despite the strong performances from the big three – was the reason the Nets won this game. It was Watson’s nine consecutive points to open the fourth quarter that allowed the Nets to stay ahead of Minnesota after the Timberwolves twice cut the lead to two early in the fourth.
Watson, who finished with 14 points, again proved that if he’s hitting shots, he’s a terrific player to have on the floor. He also got into it with J.J. Barea, drawing five fouls on Barea in the first half of the final quarter. And after it looked like Watson flopped on one play in particular, he then admitted to the YES Network after the game.
“J.J. Barea’s a flopping guy, so I tried to give him a taste of his own medicine,” Watson said. “I hope I don’t get fined, though.”
Watson won’t get fined, as he hasn’t even been warned for a flop yet. But I’d expect him to get a warning after seemingly admitting on the postgame broadcast that he had, indeed, flopped to get an offensive foul called on Barea.
— Fans kept asking me why MarShon Brooks didn’t get a chance to play before the end of the third quarter. I’m honestly not sure. I think if the Nets are going to begin second quarters with Joe Johnson on the bench, as they have recently, I think they need to have Brooks on the floor in those situations.
Whatever his flaws may be on the defensive end, Brooks knows how to score, and in a variety of ways. There is no reason he shouldn’t be anchoring the offense for the second unit whenever Johnson is on the bench getting a rest.
— Fans were also asking why Mirza Teletovic wasn’t playing. This, however, is a much easier and simpler answer than Brooks. Teletovic is simply the odd man out of the four big man rotation the Nets have settled into.
The Nets are going to play Lopez, Reggie Evans, Kris Humphries and Andray Blatche. It’s very, very difficult to give consistent minutes to five big men, leaving Teletovic on the outside looking in.
If Evans or Humphries, or both, are playing badly, then Teletovic will likely get a shot. But if those first four are going well, more often than not Teletovic is going to find himself in the position he was in Wednesday night: watching from the bench.
tbontemps@nypost.com