Brooklyn Nets Will Need Best Effort Against Minnesota Timberwolves

The Brooklyn Nets will look to extend their home winning streak to 13 on Sunday night, but in order to do so, they’ll first have to get past the Minnesota Timberwolves.

That may not seem like a tall order at first glance of Minnesota’s 36-35 record, but looks can be deceiving. If the Nets want to keep the home magic going, this will be one of those nights where they’ll need to be at their best. At an earlier point in the season, that wouldn’t have been the case. They would’ve been able to get by with a subpar performance, but circumstances have now changed dramatically.

With only 11 games remaining before the postseason gets underway, the Timberwolves have extremely slim playoff hopes, but are still breathing. Kevin Love and company are currently six and a half games behind the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth and final seed in the Western Conference.

Such desperation will bring out the very best effort from a team, and when they have the respectable talent that the Timberwolves do in players such as Love, Ricky Rubio, Kevin Martin, Nikola Pekovic, etc., their opponent will need to match their intensity to pick up the victory.

The first few minutes will determine how difficult of a night the Nets will have ahead of them. If they come out playing as though they’re overlooking Minnesota, they’ll find themselves in an uphill battle all night long … one they won’t win.

If the effort is there for the Nets, they’ll secure their 13^th consecutive home win. If not, expect disappointment by the end of the night.

Mike B. Ruiz is a Brooklyn Nets writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @mikebruiz and “Like” him on Facebook.