Tyrese Maxey has been among the NBA’s top scorers this season. However, the Philadelphia 76ers star was no match for the Brooklyn Nets’ surging defense on Tuesday.
The Nets held Maxey to his worst offensive performance of the season, limiting him to 13 points on 3-of-14 shooting while cruising to a 114-106 win.
“I think our ball pressure was good. We always have bodies in front, and we all know how special a player he is and how disruptive he is,” Jordi Fernandez said. “He can drive you crazy throughout a game because he’s that good. Today, he probably didn’t have the impact, but still, he creates so much attention. Every time he was running to get the ball, or had the ball in his hands, we were aware. So happy for the guys, I think they did a great job. Not just against him, but the whole game defensively was a good game.”
The win marked the Nets’ sixth in their last nine games. They hold the NBA’s best defense in December, limiting opponents to 102.7 points per game on 44.0 percent shooting from the field and 29.8 percent from three.
Surging Nets shut down 76ers for sixth win in nine games
Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
However, Tuesday’s 76ers tilt presented the Nets’ toughest test during that stretch. Despite V.J. Edgecombe and Quentin Grimes missing the game, Maxey, Joel Embiid, Paul George and Jared McCain were a step up from the offenses Brooklyn had faced this month.
Fernandez’s squad was more than up for the challenge. They held Philadelphia to 33-of-81 (40.7 percent) shooting from the field and 7-of-27 (25.9 percent) from three while forcing 16 turnovers.
After posting the NBA’s worst defensive rating (128.5) during their 0-7 start, the Nets rank sixth (111.7) over their last 21 games while posting a 9-12 record. The additions of Egor Demin (6-foot-9) and Noah Clowney (6-foot-10) to a starting five that already featured Terance Mann (6-foot-6), Michael Porter Jr. (6-foot-10) and Nic Claxton (6-foot-11) have coincided with that dramatic improvement.
Brooklyn’s starting lineup boasts an average height of 6-foot-9 and an average wingspan of seven feet. That length has overwhelmed the 76ers and numerous other opponents during the team’s recent hot stretch.
“That’s like the new NBA,” Nic Claxton said. “It’s a lot of length, a lot of positionless basketball. A lot of people can do multiple things out there, whether it’s guarding multiple positions or different things on the opposite side of the ball. That [starting five] is a really good group, and we just gotta keep growing together as a unit.”
Michael Porter Jr. continued to fuel the Nets offensively during Tuesday’s win. The 6-foot-10 forward scored 25 points in the first half and finished with 28. Porter Jr. is averaging 25.6 points on 49/49/82 shooting splits this season. The Nets have posted a 9-9 record over his last 18 games.
Egor Demin turned in another high-level performance. The rookie posted 20 points, five rebounds and five assists on 6-of-11 shooting from the field and 5-of-9 from three. After the 76ers cut a 19-point deficit to single digits late in the fourth quarter, he drained back-to-back threes to put the game out of reach.
The performance comes after Demin drained three fourth-quarter threes on Sunday to seal a win over the Toronto Raptors. Demin has scored 14 points in four straight games for the first time this season.
Egor Demin drives two daggers into the 76ers’ heart. pic.twitter.com/yXDv7P9vOI
— Erik Slater (@erikslater_) December 24, 2025
Claxton posted 16 points, 10 rebounds and two assists on 6-of-7 shooting during the win. Noah Clowney added 13 points, while Day’Ron Sharpe and Ziaire Williams chipped in nine apiece off the bench.