Michael Porter Jr. entered Friday night’s NBA Cup contest against the Orlando Magic with a career-high of six assists, done just once. In less than one quarter of play, he tied that mark. Despite a putrid
record through his first season-and-change, rest assured Jordi Fernández is going to have a long leash as the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets.
His team led 36-27 after one quarter, and while scoring seven fast-break points off seven Orlando turnovers helped the cause, they really just spammed Porter Jr./Nic Claxton actions in the half court with great success. Porter Jr., tracing the arc clockwise, would come off a screen and then a handoff from Claxton, or he’d receive a simple pass. From there, it was over for Orlando’s bigs, in a mediocre drop coverage that neither contested his jumpers nor the lob over the top…
Porter Jr. posted 11 points and six assists in the first quarter. He was a beneficiary of Brooklyn’s flowing offense, not just the focal point. Brooklyn rode their early momentum to a 16-point lead midway through the second quarter, thought it was at this point their offense flatlined.
Egor Dëmin drove off a pick-and-roll for a layup early, sending a minor shockwave throughout Nets fandom, but was otherwise quiet over just 18 minutes, posting 8/3/2 on 2-of-9 shooting. He was subbed out a couple possessions into the third quarter and had a lengthy spell on the bench, though he did ultimately return for some big fourth quarter minutes, where he made his sole 3-pointer.
Jordi Fernández predictably downplayed his sub pattern: “No, I just played with Tyrese. And at some point, what you’re trying to find is a group that gives you a run. And that group … they made a run, right?”
The other rookie in the rotation, Drake Powell, was a bit more ready for the physical and chaotic tone of this NBA Cup affair. He posted 6/3/3 on all two-pointers in his 22 minutes, but his most impressive plays had little to do with the stat-sheet. Often tasked with defending Desmond Bane, he fervently shuffled those puppies…
Really, this is why Brooklyn hung around until the bitter end. They won the turnover battle 19-7, taking advantage of an uninspiring Orlando Magic half-court offense that invokes the feeling Head Coach Jamahl Mosley won’t survive their upcoming first- or second-round exit.
But that offense was enough to get the job done. Ziaire Williams and Terance Mann each played with terrific energy and made a couple of 3-pointers (though a visibly fired up Mann was a team-worst -20 on the night), but no other Net could make a jumper after the first quarter. Despite Porter Jr.’s 24/11/7 stat-line, he shot just 10-of-23 from the floor. As a whole, Brooklyn finished 10-of-39 from deep, undoing a pretty strong 56% shooting on twos.
Up 98-94 with under two minutes left, Nic Claxton (13/4/3) failed to box out Wendell Carter Jr. on the free-throw line, the ball careening out of bounds off a white jersey. Tristan da Silva hit his fifth 3-pointer of the game on the ensuing possession. After an empty trip the other way, Franz Wagner came down and caught the ball against a Ziaire Williams close out. He hoisted up a triple that looked embarrassingly off to everybody in the arena, but those of us watching on television saw it immediately: He banked it in. Next time down, he backed into a three against a Nic Claxton switch, and perhaps emboldened by the friendly touch of the basketball gods, this one went in normally. Ballgame…
“We miss a free throw box out they win that position, and then they made a couple of crazy threes,” said Fernández. Sometimes you know, it goes your way. And it’s part of the game, but control what we can control, you know, that defensive rebounding.”
Brooklyn lost the fourth quarter 26-16. At least in this one, they resembled their surly selves from early last season, ready to commit hard fouls and dive on the floor. We even got an old classic from Fernández in postgame…
“We got 1% better as a group, and that’s the most important thing.”
Final Score: Orlando Magic 105, Brooklyn Nets 98
