{"id":565964,"date":"2026-01-28T09:32:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T09:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/565964\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T09:32:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T09:32:26","slug":"brooklyn-nets-overcome-by-phoenix-suns-in-wild-finish-lose-106-102","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/565964\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn Nets overcome by Phoenix Suns in wild finish, lose 106-102"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Brooklyn Nets, once again, could only move on<\/a> in the wake of a depressing blowout<\/a> to the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night. After following a 54-point loss with a double-OT defeat last week, Tuesday night\u2019s match against the Phoenix Suns (sans Devin Booker) was their opportunity to continue a semi-disturbing pattern of blowout -> good game -> blowout -> good game.<\/p>\n

After the Knicks loss, Michael Porter Jr. put the blame on himself: \u201cA lot of it, that\u2019s on me, I didn\u2019t come in with the right energy. You know, I felt like that trickled down throughout the group.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cIt\u2019s just an energy thing. I feel like when you go out there and you have the right aggression, the right energy and the right outlook, then it just can change the whole flow of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

MPJ didn\u2019t speak before Tuesday\u2019s contest in Phoenix, but he clearly felt the same way this time around. Once again, he delivered. Porter scored 12 points in the first quarter, all two-pointers. Whether off the drive or off a cut, he was living at the rim early\u2026<\/p>\n

With the threat of the rim in his back-pocket, MPJ then his usual array of ridiculous 3-point shot-making. He would finish with a game-high 36 points on 15-of-24 shooting, including 6-of-10 from deep. With All-Star reserves announced this coming Saturday, MPJ gave the coaches one more All-Star-caliber performance to think about.<\/p>\n

MPJ couldn\u2019t do it alone, though. He was the only Net in double-digits in the first half, but the bigger issue was the team\u2019s defense. Despite winning the first quarter, Brooklyn found themselves down 60-51 at halftime, their pick-and-roll defense falling leading to dunk after dunk for Mark Williams. It appears Drake Powell served the main punishment, as he started the game but played just eight first-half minutes, then was benched after the break.<\/p>\n

With Powell on the bench, Brooklyn got it together in the second half. Nobody took over the game \u2014 the second-highest scoring Net on the night was Egor Demin with 15 points \u2014 but they got a variety of contributors. Ziaire Williams hit a big triple, Cam Thomas scored seven of his 11 in the second half, and Day\u2019Ron Sharpe dropped a memorable dime\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026all part of a team-wide effort to chip away. Brooklyn kept the deficit within single-digits the whole half, then made their push midway through the fourth quarter. Finally, Terance Mann drove off the catch and rose up for an and-1 layup, punctuated by a flagrant foul from Grayson Allen\u2026<\/p>\n

Mann hit the free-throw, giving the Nets the lead and beginning a see-saw affair in the final few minutes. D\u00ebmin hit a three, Mark Williams continued his monster night (27 points) with two more buckets inside. Brooklyn might have run away with this thing, but despite their resiliency, they could not get a handle on the little things. Phoenix scored a whopping 72 points in the paint, partially because Brooklyn turned it over 22 times\u2026<\/p>\n

Despite that, they still had a chance to win as Terance Mann brought the ball up court, trailing by two points with just over a minute left. Former Net Royce O\u2019Neale back-poked him, setting off a mad dash for the ball, ending in a tie-up between former teammates and current friends Ziaire Williams and Dillon Brooks. That was just the beginning, though.<\/p>\n

The baby-faced D\u00ebmin finally had enough of Dillon Brooks, who had previously picked up both a flagrant foul and technical foul (for shoving D\u00ebmin, incidentally) earlier in the game. D\u00ebmin gave Brooks a shove, Brooks smartly exaggerated it, and then half the arena seemingly got involved\u2026<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neale grabbed D\u00ebmin, Ziaire Williams and Grayson Allen had their own cussing match off to the side, Mann grabbed O\u2019Neale as a crowd gravitated around them (D\u00ebmin quietly walked away). In the middle of the chaos, Michael Porter Jr. shoved Suns assistant DeMarre Carroll, and only then did Ziaire Williams get injured: Postgame, Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez reported that a well-meaning Suns coach ran into Williams while trying to break up the fight, and Williams had to be helped to the locker room postgame.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are just guys protecting each other and fighting for each other, and I think they did a great job,\u201d said Fern\u00e1ndez of his team. \u201cYou know, you\u2019re not going to let any of your teammates get hit or pushed or anything. Obviously, there\u2019s boundaries and we don\u2019t want anybody to get hurt here, but you know, you\u2019ve seen a few dirty play. They call it, they didn\u2019t call it, I think it got out of hand because of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whew boy. Three technicals on the Nets, two on the Suns. Frankly, Dillon Brooks\u2019 master plan of being a huge [redacted] all game worked, as it typically does. Grayson Allen, often less cunning in his mischief, stepped to the line for the technical free-throw\u2026and missed it. No harm done?<\/p>\n

Not quite. With Williams hurt, the Suns could choose which Net to sub in the game for the jump-ball, and they chose Ben Saraf. Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez then left him on the floor for the game-tying possession, which never went anywhere and ended in a 24-second violation. Then, Fern\u00e1ndez subbed in Danny Wolf to guard Grayson Allen, who spun right around him for an extra-bitter dagger.<\/p>\n

Baffling decisions, tanking decisions, or an extreme effort to get a couple rookies some crunch-time reps? You decide. Either way, the Nets continued the pattern, following up an ugly blowout with late-game heartbreak. They\u2019ve now lost six in a row, their record now a pitiful 12-33. But hey, it\u2019s a tanking season, and at least there was a clear positive on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like my guys sticking up for each other\u2026the resiliency and keep fighting, I think we did it.\u201d \u2014 Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez<\/p>\n

Final Score: Phoenix Suns 106, Brooklyn Nets 102<\/p>\n

Egor D\u00ebmin made a pretty special 3-pointer midway through the second quarter. It marked his 33rd consecutive games with a triple, tying Landry Shamet (2018-19) and Rudy Fern\u00e1ndez (2008-09), for the all-time longest streak by a rookie.Michael Porter Jr. tied his season-high with those 36 pointsBrooklyn is still the fifth in Tankathon rankings<\/a> but only two games out of first, and ONE in the win column!<\/p>\n

Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez had no further update on Ziaire Williams postgame, saying the team did not know what the injury was. Based on his limp and escort off the floor, it may be lower body, but that is merely an educated guess at this point.<\/p>\n

Nolan Traore and Cam Thomas both returned from one-game absences for this one. However, despite Traore having the best game of his NBA career vs. the Boston Celtics on Friday night, he did not see any minutes.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Noah Clowney missed his second consecutive game with back soreness.<\/p>\n

\"Bart<\/a><\/p>\n

Bart Young\/NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Brooklyn Nets now embark on the worst back-to-back the NBA schedule could possibly offer: Denver and Utah. Hope you like your oxygen thin! Tip-off against the Denver Nuggets is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. ET on Thursday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brooklyn Nets, once again, could only move on in the wake of a depressing blowout to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3791],"tags":[7,6,51809,2065,472,4045,604],"class_list":{"0":"post-565964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix-suns","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-nets-scores","11":"tag-phoenix","12":"tag-phoenix-suns","13":"tag-phoenixsuns","14":"tag-suns"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115972038081776449","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}