Wolves fall against Nets

Published 1:24 am Tuesday, March 17, 2015

MINNEAPOLIS — In the absence of old teammate Kevin Garnett, the Brooklyn Nets made history against the short-handed Minnesota Timberwolves.

Joe Johnson scored 22 points, rookie Bojan Bogdanovic had 21 and the Nets set a franchise record with 78 points in the paint in a 122-106 win on Monday night.

The Nets shot 57.8 percent from the floor and made nearly 70 percent of their shots in the paint (39-of-56).

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“It’s men against boys right now,” Minnesota coach Flip Saunders said. “They’ve got an All-Star in (Deron) Williams, an All-Star in Joe Johnson and an All-Star in Brook Lopez, and those guys for the first three quarters pretty much dominated.”

Thaddeus Young chipped in 19 for the Nets in his first game against Minnesota since being dealt to Brooklyn for Garnett at the trade deadline.

Kevin Martin scored 23 points and Zack LaVine added 20 for the Timberwolves, who had just eight healthy players and were missing three starters due to injury.

Garnett sat out with a sore left knee.

“We can’t practice because we’ve only got eight guys, and the guys are so tired you’re trying to get them some rest time,” said Saunders.