Feb. 25, 2026, 11:35 a.m. ET

NEW YORK — The Brooklyn Nets (15-42) had some unexpected travel issues affecting them with the blizzard that New York City was hit with over the weekend. Brooklyn had to fly back to the Big Apple early on Tuesday, but the Dallas Mavericks (21-36) had to do the same thing. However, the Nets just couldn’t make the necessary plays to end their losing streak at home.

The Nets lost to the Mavericks on Tuesday 123-114 in a matchup where Brooklyn never allowed the game to get into blowout territory, but they also couldn’t put themselves in a position to tie the game. Forward Michael Porter Jr. had 26 points and three assists while forward Noah Clowney had one of his best games of the season with 22 points and five rebounds of his own.

Dallas did not have the services of Cooper Flagg or Kyrie Irving, but they had forward Marvin Bagley III going off for 22 points and five rebounds off the bench to complement forward Naji Marshall’s 21 points and seven assists. The Nets have one more left left on their home stint on Thursday against the San Antonio Spurs, but for now, here are three Nets takeaways from Tuesday’s loss to the Mavericks:

Michael Porter Jr. Bounces Back (Somewhat)

Porter finished Tuesday’s loss with 26 points (9-of-16 shooting from the field, 2-of-6 from three-point land), but there was still a difference between his first half and second half performances. In the first half, Porter had 16 points (6-of-7 shooting from the field, 2-of-2 from deep), but in the second half, he had 10 points on just 3-of-9 shooting from the field.

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Clowney has had his fair share of struggles this season, but he had one of his best games of the season with 22 points and five rebounds in 33 minutes on the floor. What made this game encouraging for Clowney is he looked confident throughout the entire contest, whether it was driving to the rim, shooting the three-pointer, and even on the defensive end when he switched onto various defenders.

Terance Mann Shines In Fourth Quarter

Mann has been accepting of his bench role in recent games as head coach Jordi Fernandez has turned to rookie Nolan Traore to be one of the starting guards, but the veteran has been in this league for as long as he has because of games like what he had against the Mavericks. Mann has always been more known for his defense than anything else, but after scoring 10 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter, he once again showed how he has improved the weaker parts of his game over the course of this trying season.