Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. turned in the best all-around quarter of his career to begin Friday's Orlando Magic matchup. Yet, a game that looked like a turning point for the 6-foot-10 forward and the struggling Nets ended in heartbreak with a 105-98 loss.
Porter Jr. posted six assists in the first quarter of the defeat, tying his career-high for an entire game and propelling Brooklyn to a 16-point lead, its largest of the season. The seven-year veteran surpassed his career-high with his seventh dime early in the second quarter. He added 15 points and six rebounds on 6-of-12 shooting from the field and 3-of-6 from three in the first half.
However, Porter Jr.'s magic ran out in the fourth quarter, and any chance of an upset Nets win went with it. After adding seven points in the third quarter, the 27-year-old went ice cold in the fourth, shooting 1-0f-6. Brooklyn led 98-94 with two minutes remaining, but missed its final five shots while allowing Orlando to close on an 11-0 run.
“I thought my teammates played great… I told them, this one’s on me. I feel like I didn’t make plays down the stretch,” Porter told YES Network. “This one’s on me. I got to play better and make plays on a stretch to help us. Obviously, we win as a team, lose as the team, but yeah, I feel like this one was on me being up four with like 1:30, two minutes left, I gotta try to be better. So I just told everybody my fault.”
“We played a pretty complete game, but fourth quarters, you know… You got to make plays down the stretch. I missed some easy ones that I got to make, and I gotta help calm us down and get us into a good set to get us some easier looks. And obviously, you’ve got to give credit to those guys, they hit some tough three down the stretch, but definitely a winnable game.”
While Porter Jr. couldn't get the job done offensively in the final frame, the Nets' continued rebounding woes did them in.
Rebounding plagues Nets during late-game collapse against Magic
Orlando outrebounded Brooklyn 48-36 and won the second-chance points battle 25-5. Porter Jr. grabbed 11 rebounds. However, starting center Nic Claxton managed just five and allowed a massive offensive rebound down the stretch.
With the Nets leading 98-94 with 1:58 remaining, Franz Wagner missed a free throw, but Wendell Carter Jr. outworked Claxton for an offensive rebound. Tristan da Silva drained a three on the ensuing possession, followed by back-to-back Wagner threes to put Brooklyn away.
“Yeah, that was on me,” Claxton told YES Network. “Wendell, he got around me on the box out. So, I got to be better with that. Just got to be better on defensive rebounding, for sure. We’ve been struggling. I’ve been struggling. It’s definitely a point of emphasis. And that possession really hurt us.”
Claxton is averaging just 4.5 defensive rebounds per 36 minutes, the third-fewest among 35 centers to play over 250 minutes this season. The Nets rank dead-last in defensive rebounding percentage this season, 3.5 points below the 29th-ranked Milwaukee Bucks.
“The key to the game was defensive rebounding. We've struggled as a group. It's not one person's job, it's a whole team's effort,” head coach Jordi Fernandez said. “You look at the second-chance [points] and it's 25-5 in a seven-point game. We have a four-point lead, and we miss a free-throw boxout, they win that possession, and then they make a couple of crazy threes… But we control what we can control. That defensive rebounding. We've got to clean up those things.”
Porter Jr. finished with 24 points on 10-of-23 shooting with 11 rebounds, seven assists and zero turnovers. Ziaire Williams added 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Claxton scored 13 points, while Terance Mann and Noah Clowney chipped in 12 apiece.
The Magic were without Paolo Banchero, who suffered a groin strain during Wednesday's Knicks matchup. Wagner led Orlando with 25 points, six rebounds and five assists on 7-of-17 shooting. Da Silva added 22 points and nine rebounds on 8-of-14 shooting from the field and 5-of-9 from three, while Desmond Bane had 19 points on 7-of-18 shooting.
The loss drops the Nets to 1-11, their worst start since 2009-10 when they opened the year 0-18.
