The Brooklyn Nets are on a winning streak. I know we’re barely making quota for a statement like that, but who knows how often we’ll get to say it this year. Let’s all just soak it in.

They’ll eventually make up for it (and then some), but our boys took their time getting started offensively tonight. The Nets began game No. 21 shooting 1-of-6 from the field, either missing short, or sometimes just everything.

But then, Michael Porter Jr. started carrying that weight. You’d never know this guy has a bad back with how he’s been able to do that for the Nets offense so often this year. In the first, he put in 14 points while shooting 5-of-9 from the field.

However, all offense outside of him remained a struggle, for a while…

Nets not named Porter Jr. shot 5-of-14 from the field in the first. Ben Saraf did nail a rather deep triple though, which felt like it should count extra.

That was enough to give the Nets a five point lead after one. Chicago’s offense not being much better than Brooklyn’s helped out there. The Bulls picked on Egor Dëmin a few times during the game’s opening minutes, even forcing him into some early foul trouble, struggles to finish off plays, fumbles of fast break sequences and misses of open looks.

Dëmin’s two personals less than four minutes into the contest gave us an earlier introduction than usual to Saraf, but also Day’Ron Sharpe, Danny Wolf, Drake Powell, and Ziaire Williams who followed soon after as the Nets conducted hockey-style line changes often, Jordi Fernandez likely intent on spreading the minutes evenly in this back-to-back opener. That five stayed on the floor to begin the second, where Sharpe seemed to take offense any time Chicago tried to retake the lead. He rejected two shots in less than two minutes.

That rim defense had to be disheartening for the home fans watching, as just getting shots became a struggle for Chicago. They committed four turnovers just over four minutes into the period, bringing their total for the game to eight at the 7:39 mark of the second. That made it easy for the Nets to get out and run, give their young guns confidence, and get firing…

It was a big first half for the guys on Brooklyn’s roster synonymous with that term. Even with Wolf doing things that might’ve gotten him accused of witchcraft 20 years ago and Sharpe hosting his block party, no one looked better than Nic Claxton, who seemed to finish every other possession in the second by running past Nikola Vučević for lay-ins.

Behind Porter, who had 17, Clax led the Nets into the half with seven points, a steal, and a block while shooting 3-of-4 from the field. He also got involved as a facilitator as the Nets once more took turns running the offense through different players minus Terance Man….

The committee more than covered for Mann, as the Nets ended up tallying 30 assists for the night. After having only three games with that many or more all year, they now have two in each of their last two games.

Dëmin also came off the bench to grab seven first half points, all coming in the second frame. He got nearly half of them on a pull-up three in Josh Giddey’s grill. However, the very next time down the floor, Giddey bulldozed him en route to an and-one finish. That capped a partially good, partially bad, and entirely “rookie” kind of first half for the eighth overall pick.

Outside of Giddey, Chicago’s play, particularly their offense, was just the latter, offensive. You’d have to go to a dark place to imagine what they would have looked like in the first half without the do-it-all guard. He added 15 points, seven rebounds, and three assists in the first half. At the break, he was a +2, while other starters Julian Phillips and Ayo Dosunmu were both -7. Matas Bazelis was a -9. The Bulls scored only 44 points to Brooklyn’s 54, giving them their lowest scoring first half all season.

“We was guarding,” Clowney said. “First half, 44 points? We’ve had games where we allowed 70 in the first half, so, we was guarding, that was the main thing for us. We knew what we wanted to do and we did it, especially in the first half.”

As any seasoned NBA fan will tell you, there are two kinds of “bad” teams: those that simply lack talent, but never effort or focus, and those that don’t have any of the three. Not being the latter is what Brooklyn has prided itself on so far in the Jordi Fernández era, and the Bulls gave us a quick view of what the other side looks like to begin the third…

After Chicago quickly cut it to five to begin the quarter, the Nets swung back with their own 5-0 run, which eventually boiled into a 17-point Brooklyn lead. In that stretch, we saw Chicago commit an over-and-back violation, close out late on threes, commit additional turnovers and omit from hustling back on defense…

But that’s the thing about energy and focus, it’s all on you, and therefore easy to fix. The Bulls eventually did so, going on an 11-2 run in the heart of the period.

Brooklyn’s lack of talent then started to show too. As Chicago’s defensive intensity picked up, Brooklyn’s offense stalled, lacking shot creation outside of Porter Jr. Drake Powell dribbled into a turnover with about three minutes to go in the third, which queued up an easy Bazelis layup, which made it only a six point game.

Powell redeemed himself with a triple a few sequences later, which helped the Nets stay afloat and enter the fourth with an 83-75 lead. He only finished the game with five points, two assists, and a rebound, embodying the quietest rookie on the floor tonight, but there ended what would be Chicago’s last serious threat at a comeback.

In the fourth, the Nets opened up with a five including Wolf, Williams, Porter Jr., Clowney, and Claxton, betting again on the ultra-big lineup which helped Brooklyn seal the deal last time out…

The coach cashed in again, as the Nets began the period on an 11-3 run. Clowney put on a PR clinic for he and his coach in the process. After going 0-4 from deep in the first half, he went 6-7 in the second half, splashing three in the final frame to finish with 20 points, seven rebounds, and two dimes.

“To be honest, my looks in the first half was probably better,” Clowney said. “I just ain’t make them. I don’t know if they gonna end on continuing to let me shoot or if they just missed communications, but it’s rare that I’m gonna miss the whole night. I’ll make some of them.”

Brooklyn led by as many as 19 in the final period, continuing to get contributions from Porter Jr. as well, who by that point had notched his seventh 30-point game of the season. In Denver, he never had more than six in a season. He reached the finish line with 33 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, two steals, and a block while shooting 5-of-12 from deep.

“I think right now it’s less dancing, more finishing cuts, more keeping it simple,” Fernández said of MPJ. “Five assists, I know the turnovers right there, but the line is incredible. Led us in rebounding…He’s chasing drives, he’s rebounding, he’s engaged. I’m very happy to see the growth that I see. I believe he’ll still keep growing, because he’s having fun and he’s engaged.”

Fernández also saluted Porter’s leadership postgame.

“Right now, as you see, our team is so young, and they look up to him,” he said. “Obviously, because he was the young one when we were together, he had to look at others, and I think that step just takes time. Sometimes you think you know, but you don’t know until you know. Michael is a selfless person. He always talks about his teammates and I think that’s a positive.”

For reference, Porter took the time to shout out all five of Brooklyn’s rookie postgame for what they’ve been able to bring to the table this year while speaking with Meghan Triplett, including Nolan Traore, who was over 700 miles away this evening on Long Island.

The Bulls cut it to 11 with around six to play, but then Clowney passed the sniper rifle onto Wolf, who then handed it to Williams, who then gave it to Dëmin. Each hit big triples one after the other, and that was enough to stabilize the Brooklyn lead in the windy city. It also got them to a 19-46 3-point shooting night, tying a season-high for total made in a contest this year.

“Everybody contributed,” Fernández said. “That’s big. That’s how we want to play. We want to keep growing. It’s not going to be perfect, but if we keep getting 1% better every day, that’s the key.”

Final: Brooklyn Nets 113, Chicago Bulls 103

Porter Jr. recorded his second 30-point double-double of the season and ninth of his career. He is the first Net with multiple 30-point double-doubles in a season since Kyrie Irving in 2022-23.Along with made threes (19) the Nets also tied their record for the season for highest 3P% in a game at 42.2%, as they also went 19-45 vs Cleveland in October.

Getty Images

Brooklyn will complete a back-to-back sequence tomorrow night, returning home to host the Utah Jazz for the first time this season. The Jazz don’t appear to be a strong tank competitors to the Nets as they were last year, posting a 7-13 record at the time of writing, but you can never be too safe with Danny Ainge’s crew. Utah beat Brooklyn both times last year.