Joe Johnson’s seemingly lack of effort is glaring. The second highest NBA player ends with six points and six rebounds and assists

The 10-16 Minnesota Timberwolves came into the Barclays Center on Sunday afternoon (a rare 1:00 p.m. game) needing a road win after losing eight of their last 10 games; and the 7-19 Brooklyn Nets laid out the welcome mat and said, no problem.

The Nets allowed the athletic ‘Wolves to get off to a great start, as they dominated the first quarter. Although Brooklyn tied Minnesota five times during the first stanza, the Timberwolves overpowered the Nets with 47.6 percent field goal shooting compared to the Nets lethargic 28.6 percent, ending the quarter 26-16. For the Nets, Brook Lopez led the charge. Even though Lopez seemingly attracted Timberwolves players every time he touched the ball, the Nets center managed to score half of the Nets first quarter points with eight.

The Nets battled back in the 2nd quarter, outscoring the ‘Wolves 27-26, but it wasn’t enough; Minnesota ended the half with an overall score 52-43. And, where was Joe Johnson? We’re all still waiting for Johnson to show up. The Nets shooting guard ended the half with zero points on 0 of 2 shooting. But, to his credit (tongue in cheek), Johnson did have two assists and one offensive rebound. And, when it was all said and done, Johnson’s tally was triple sixes: six points, six rebounds, and six assists. Not a good showing for the second highest paid NBA player.

Johnson wasn’t the on Nets starter having a bad day. During the third quarter, the fans were so upset with the Nets performance that when Kevin Garnett, former Nets player and now back with the Timberwolves, stole the ball from Jarrett Jack, they started to “boo,” but Ally Love and the Nets entertainment team promptly interrupted and overpowered the disenchanted fans with sheer volume and a T-shirt toss.

“We didn’t play hard, Jack said after the game. “We didn’t show any resistance. The score is very indicative of that.”

At game’s end, Brooklyn Nets superman, Brook Lopez, had 20 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, and one steal.

“Yeah, we haven’t had a complete game in a while and you can see that,” Lopez said responding to whether the Nets energy and effort is worrisome at this point. “We absolutely have to. It takes every person who steps onto the court to set the attitude and we certainly need the bench to come in and you know, do the same or even pick it up.”

Other Nets starters in double digits were Bojan Bogdanovic with 13 points and Thaddeus Young with 12 points. Nets reserve players scoring in double digits were Andrea Bargnani with 11 and Wayne Ellington with 10.

Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns led all scorers with 24 points and 10 rebounds and Gorgui Dieng put up 20 points and 10 boards off the bench. In fact, Minnesota’s bench consisting of Kevin Martin (16), Zach Levine (10), and Andre Miller (2) contributed nearly 50 percent of the team’s total score with 48 points. Andrew Wiggins, a starting guard for Minnesota, chipped in 16 points.

With the loss against Minnesota, Brooklyn dropped its fifth straight.

Next stop for the Nets; Chicago on Monday night.