{"id":304847,"date":"2025-11-24T04:33:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T04:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/304847\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T04:33:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T04:33:19","slug":"nets-collapse-over-final-minutes-after-hanging-tough-in-loss-to-raptors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/304847\/","title":{"rendered":"Nets collapse over final minutes after hanging tough in loss to Raptors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Nets proved they could trade buckets with the Raptors. <\/p>\n

But they also showed they couldn\u2019t get a stop when they needed one.<\/p>\n

After forcing six straight ties, the Nets never got over the hump. <\/p>\n

And they finally broke, allowing 10 unanswered points in the waning moments of a 119-109 loss before a crowd of 18,038 at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

Same teams. Same score.<\/p>\n

The Nets had lost by an identical scoreline to the Raptors at Barclays Center on Nov. 11. <\/p>\n

\"SandroNic Claxton reacts during the Nets\u2019 Nov. 23 loss to the Raptors. AP<\/p>\n

This time they actually performed much better on the road. <\/p>\n

But not quite good enough, showing they could compete but not win.<\/p>\n

With the score knotted at 104-104 \u2014 after six straight ties \u2014 with under four minutes left, Brooklyn conceded a 10-0 run that decided it.<\/p>\n

But from the perspective of Nets coach Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez, his team squandered it by coming out flat from the start. <\/p>\n

They allowed the first dozen points of the game, first five points of the second half, and had to waste too much energy chasing the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt started with our intentions from the beginning, right? We were not ready to play. If you\u2019re picking and choosing, then basketball gods go, \u2018Everything gets in the right place,\u2019 \u201d said Fern\u00e1ndez. \u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of our starting unit started 12-0 in the first quarter and 5-0 in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo to start the first half, in the second half we\u2019re minus-17. And I trust those guys, and those guys have done a great job. We battled back and we were fighting for the game. But if you put yourself in that situation, it\u2019s just really hard. We came out flat with no energy and it\u2019s not the way you want to start games.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nets (3-13) sit fourth in the lottery standings, a half-game ahead of Charlotte and Sacramento.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re a full game behind third-place Indiana, which is 2-14.<\/p>\n

Tyrese Martin had a game-high 26 points off the bench, the second-highest scoring game of his career. Michael Porter Jr. had 25 points and six rebounds, and Noah Clowney added 22.<\/p>\n

RJ Barrett exited the game with a right knee sprain and didn\u2019t return for Toronto. <\/p>\n

But Scottie Barnes had 17, and Immanuel Quickley (13 points, seven rebounds) had back-to-back huge 3-pointers in that 10-0 Raptors run.<\/p>\n

The Nets were trailing 70-58 early in the third quarter after Brandon Ingram drilled a 3-pointer off a Sandro Mamukelashvili feed. <\/p>\n

But they responded with a 15-4 run, including the last six to pull within a point.<\/p>\n

Porter\u2019s free throw pulled Brooklyn within 74-73 with 4:50 left in the third.<\/p>\n

Moments after Porter hit a high-difficulty 3-pointer over not one, but two defenders, the Nets finally pulled even. <\/p>\n

\"TyreseTyrese Martin looks to move the ball during the Nets\u2019 Nov. 23 loss to the Raptors. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

But never ahead.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn, which had never held a lead, tied the contest six straight times, several of them with Fern\u00e1ndez stealing minutes with Porter resting on the bench.<\/p>\n

At 94-all on Martin\u2019s 3-pointer.<\/p>\n

At 96-all on Clowney\u2019s free throw with 8:30 left.<\/p>\n

At 98-all on Martin\u2019s foul shot 50 seconds later.<\/p>\n

At 100-all on another Clowney free throw.<\/p>\n

At 102-all on Nic Claxton\u2019s layup.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFollow all the basketball buzz in Brooklyn\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Nets by Brian Lewis, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

And finally, once Porter checked back in with 4:33 to play, the veteran had a tip-in just nine seconds later to knot it at 104-all.<\/p>\n

But after the Raptors went back ahead on Jamal Shead\u2019s free throws, this time the Nets couldn\u2019t keep pace. <\/p>\n

They allowed 10 unanswered to finally lose touch.<\/p>\n

Egor D\u00ebmin missed a 3-pointer, and after Claxton grabbed the offensive rebound, missed from inside.<\/p>\n

Shead found Quickley out of a trap, and the former Knick drilled a dagger 3-pointer for a 109-104 lead.<\/p>\n

Then Quickley hit another 3-pointer off a Brandon Ingram feed with 2:20 left. <\/p>\n

That was essentially the nail in the coffin for the Nets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Nets proved they could trade buckets with the Raptors. But they also showed they couldn\u2019t get a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,5997,590,85,17602],"class_list":{"0":"post-304847","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-brooklyn-nets","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-toronto-raptors"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}