NEW YORK — The Brooklyn Nets (8-19) were coming off a tough loss to the Miami Heat on Thursday in which the team’s fourth-quarter woes came back to bite them. Brooklyn had the chance of winning in front of their home crowd prior to Christmas coming around and they took care of business on Sunday against the visiting Toronto Raptors (17-13).
The Nets beat the Raptors 96-81 despite the game getting dicey in the third quarter with Toronto coming back from a double-digit deficit to make the game interesting. Forward Michael Porter Jr. shook off his mini-shooting slump to the tune of 24 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists while forward Noah Clowney had 19 points and nine rebounds in what amounts to his bounceback game.
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Raptors forward Brandon Ingram had a solid start to this game, but he seemed to tail off as the game waned and Brooklyn’s defense made sure to hold him to 19 points on 7-of-18 shooting from the field. The Nets will be facing tougher competition to end December, but until then, here are three Nets takeaways from Sunday’s win over the Raptors:
Michael Porter Jr. Breaks Out Of Shooting Slump
Porter had been experiencing a shooting slump for the two games coming into Sunday’s game against the Raptors, but he found his way out of the slump in a spectacular way. Porter had a great all-around performance as he totaled 24 points (9-of-18 from the field, 4-of-8 from three-point land), 11 rebounds, and five assists in 36 minutes played against Toronto.
Noah Clowney Bounces Back
Clowney had been struggling for the past four games heading into this one as he wasn’t shooting the ball from behind the three-point line, but he turned things around against the Raptors. While Clowney was still relatively inefficient shooting the ball as he finished shooting 5-of-12 from the floor, he was 4-of-8 from deep and he also compiled nine rebounds, two assists, and two blocks to make up for that.
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Egor Demin Continues Solid All-Around Play
Demin had a shaky start to December as he shot 37.5% or worse from the field in his first three games of the month, but since then, he has found his rhythm throughout his game, not just shooting the ball. Demin finished this game with 16 points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals, giving him his third straight game of scoring at least points along with the second time in three games in which he shot at least 60.0% from the field.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: 3 Nets takeaways from Sunday’s 96-81 win over the Raptors
