Nets come up empty late in loss as Ben Simmons exits with injury again

MINNEAPOLIS — The Nets came into Saturday wondering how to get Ben Simmons playing well alongside another non-shooter.

Now they’re just wondering how to keep him playing at all.

The oft-injured Simmons, the only All-Star on Brooklyn’s roster, went down again. This time he got forced out of their 101-86 loss to Minnesota before a sellout crowd of 18,024 at the Target Center with a leg injury.

Simmons has played just 55 games for the Nets since being acquired at the 2022 Trade Deadline at the cost of former MVP James Harden. Most of that missed time is due to a herniated disc, and leg injuries brought on by those aforementioned back woes.

Now Brooklyn’s starting point guard has another issue, forced out of the game with left leg soreness with 8:04 left in the third quarter.

He was ruled out for the rest of the evening.

When Simmons left, Brooklyn was trailing 53-51, and promptly knotted the score on a Nic Claxton alley oop from his replacement, Dennis Schroder.

The Nets — who bounced back nicely from a dismal loss Thursday at Toronto in interim Kevin Ollie’s debut — led 72-70 on a short Cam Thomas jumper with 9:28 to play.

But that’s when Minnesota finally pulled away.

Brooklyn coughed up a 19-6 run, and never challenged after that.

New Jersey native Kyle Anderson put the Timberwolves ahead 89-78, and the game was essentially over.

There was some added spice with Schroder fouling Mike Conley on a 3-point attempt in the waning garbage time seconds, and getting pushed by Nickeil Alexander-Walker to prompt an altercation review.

Four technical fouls got handed out. And none mattered.

Broklyn fell to 21-35.

Karl Anthony-Towns, another New Jerseyan, had a game-high 28 points and nine rebounds for Minnesota.

Anthony Edwards added 26 points and eight boards for the Timberwolves, who played without center Rudy Gobert.

Turns out they didn’t need their defensive shot-blocker.

Cam Thomas led the Nets with a modest 18 points and six rebounds, while Mikal Bridges added 15 points, eight assists and six rebounds.

Brooklyn shot just 34.0 percent, and a staggeringly-bad 6-of-35 from 3-point range.

Coming in, putting Simmons on the floor with another non-shooter had been their concern. Now they have bigger problems.

The fired Jacque Vaughn never quite found the perfect way to compensate for Simmons’ lack of a jumper.

Now Ollie must consider whether getting the best out of Simmons is a matter of keeping him surrounded by shooters or the players doing a better job of meticulous spacing? Or prodding him to finally drive more?

All of the above.

“Yes it’s all of that. Looking at the rotations, seeing who fits with him, being around him this whole season, understanding what he needs to do, how he needs to space,” said Ollie. “Then it’s also on Ben, taking it to the rim, looking at his gaps and being very aggressive. And we’ve told him that.

“Yeah, that’s what we’re trying to push him, and I think he is able to do it,” said Ollie. “And when we get in halfcourt situations, having him play with pace and having us have the right spacing around him is gonna be crucial. But when he sees that gap, he’s got to take it to the rim. I think he’ll do that.”