The Brooklyn Nets (1-10) have been having a rough go of it ever since they won their first game of the season at the Indiana Pacers in a game that seemed like it happened ages ago. Brooklyn is dealing with some injuries, but they still had a chance of winning their first game of the season on Biggie Night against the Toronto Raptors (6-5), but even the atmosphere of the night couldn’t motivate the team to a win.
The Nets lost to the Raptors 119-106 in a game where Brooklyn held their own for almost three quarters before Toronto pulled away in the fourth quarter. Center Nic Claxton had arguably his best game of the season with 21 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two steals, and two blocks while forward Michael Porter Jr. has had better games, but still finished with 21 points, six rebounds, and three assists.
Fourth quarter woes aside, the Nets had a tough time staying in front of Raptors forward Brandon Ingram as he had 25 points, five rebounds, and four assists while guard Immanuel Quickley finished with 24 points, eight rebounds, and five assists. Brooklyn has been trying to play quality basketball for four quarters, but with that being said, here are three takeaways from Tuesday’s loss to the Raptors:
Nic Claxton Continues Career Season
Claxton has been playing better than expected to begin this season, but games like the one he had against the Raptors shows that he’s ready to take the next step forward in his career. Claxton put up 21 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two steals, and two blocks while shooting 8-of-14 from the field and 5-of-5 from the free-throw line, giving him season averages of 15.2 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.1 blocks, and 1.0 steals per game.
Michael Porter Jr. Struggles To Get Going
Even after last night’s struggling effort to be efficient shooting the ball, Porter is still having a career-best season in terms of his raw averages of 23.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game. One of the issues that has reared its head recently is the inefficiency that Porter is playing through and as of this writing, he is shooting just 46.3% from the field and 35.6% from three-point land when he averaged 50.0% and 40.6% coming into this season, respectively.
Egor Demin Continues To Grow
While Demin had a shaky start to this season as head coach Jordi Fernandez was trying to manage the point guard spot enough for the team to win games, Demin seems to be at the point where he can trusted to run the show without it going off the rails. Demin dropped 16 points, four rebounds, five assists, one steal, and one block while turning the ball over just time, something Fernandez has to be happy about amidst a rough season.