"Twas the night before the night before Christmas . . . and the Nets still lost.

They had Yi Jianlian back from a knee injury, and he made a big difference. They shot the 3-ball better than they have all season, making nine. Keyon Dooling played a season high minutes and excelled. Courtney Lee shot like Courtney Lee is supposed to shoot. Devin Harris drove and pushed the ball and scored.

And the Nets still lost -- against the second worst team in the NBA. So it didn't matter if it was the night before the night before Christmas or the Fourth of July or Income Tax Filing Extension Day. They lost.

The Nets failed to get the critical stops they needed, came out on the short end of a crucial referees' review, committed ill-timed turnovers. So despite the good, the Nets were right back where they began on opening night: losing to the Timberwolves. Different score, 103-99, and different venue, the Meadowlands, but it was a loss all the same, a loss that dropped them to 2-27.

"There's no other way to say it, this is a very tough loss for all of us," said interim coach Kiki Vandeweghe, who stressed the effort and hard work then noted the reality. "At the end we couldn't get the stops we needed and we couldn't convert."

For all the good, there was bad. Al Jefferson (27 points before fouling out) reigned in the Timberwolves' paint. The Nets were outrebounded (46-37) for a 17th straight game as Kevin Love grabbed 16. There were turnovers in the final two minutes, stalling the scramble. Then within one point, they could not stop a drive by Corey Brewer (17 points) who scored with 39.4 seconds left. That came before Brook Lopez (nine points, 10 rebounds, season-high seven assists), in his lowest scoring game since Nov. 24, made 1-of-2 free throws getting the Nets within 99-97. The referees' review came next.

Harris (23 points) and Lee (20 points, 8-of-16 shooting) trapped Brewer near the Nets bench. The ball went out with 25.6 ticks left. It appeared to be Nets ball. Review. The referees overturned the call, ruling it went out off Lee. It did."