NEW YORK — The Brooklyn Nets (8-19) suffered a tough loss to the Miami Heat on Thursday, with the team’s fourth-quarter woes coming back to haunt them. Brooklyn has a chance to win in front of its home fans before Christmas on Sunday against the visiting Toronto Raptors (17-13).
The Nets defeated the Raptors 96-81, and although the game got dangerous in the third quarter, Toronto rallied from a double-digit deficit to make the game interesting. Forward Michael Porter Jr. shook off a shooting slump to finish with 24 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, while forward Noah Clowney had 19 points and nine rebounds in his rebound game.
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Raptors forward Brandon Ingram started the game well, but his performance seemed to decline as the game wound down, and Brooklyn’s defense held him to 19 points on 7-for-18 shooting. The Nets will face tougher competition by the end of December, but until then, here are three takeaways from the Nets’ win over the Raptors on Sunday:
Michael Porter Jr. breaks out of shooting slump
Porter endured a shooting slump in both games heading into Sunday’s game against the Raptors, but he shook it off in spectacular fashion. Porter played 36 minutes against the Toronto Raptors, shooting 9-for-18 from the field and 4-for-8 from three-point range, scoring 24 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists.
Noah Clooney makes a comeback
Clowney has struggled over the past four games as he hasn’t shot from behind the arc, but he turned things around against the Raptors. Although Clowney’s shooting efficiency is still relatively low, his shooting percentage is 5 of 12, but his three-point shooting percentage is 4 of 8, and he also contributed 9 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks to make up for this.
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Egor Demin continues his solid all-around performance
Deming got off to a rocky start in December, shooting 37.5 percent or lower in his first three games of the month, but since then he’s found his rhythm throughout the game, not just shooting. Deming scored 16 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in this game. This was the third consecutive game in which he scored more points and the second time in three games that his shooting percentage exceeded 60.0%.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: 3 Nets takeaways from Sunday’s 96-81 win over the Raptors
