Mikel Brown Jr.’s breakthrough came with a painful lesson in Nets’ loss

Michael Porter Jr. had his arms around Mikel Brown Jr. as the officials reviewed a call in the final seconds of overtime Tuesday night at TD Garden.

The Nets led by one with 6.1 seconds remaining. Brown had already rescued them once, hitting the shot that forced overtime, then another bomb that nearly put the Boston Celtics away. Now, with Porter doing what veterans are supposed to, Brooklyn was one possession from its first victory.

The officials overturned the call. The Nets kept the ball. All that remained was to inbound it, protect it and make the Celtics foul.

Brown would spend the postgame explaining how those final seconds slipped away.

“The kid also was a reason why we were there,” head coach Jordi Fernández said.

That was the part of Tuesday’s 125-124 loss Fernández didn’t want Brown to forget, even as the sixth overall pick shouldered responsibility for two costly mistakes.

Brown finished with 17 points, five rebounds and a team-high five assists, a performance that contained enough highs and lows to make the final stat line almost misleading. For three quarters, he could barely get anything going. By the end of regulation, he was making the biggest shots of the night.

And by the final buzzer, Brown had gone from nearly being Brooklyn’s hero to blaming himself for its fourth consecutive defeat.

Brown had scored just one point through three quarters, missing all five of his field-goal attempts. Egor Dëmin’s right-leg contusion and Nolan Traoré’s cramps had thinned Brooklyn’s backcourt, leaving Fernández to lean more heavily on a rookie whose playing time was still being carefully managed.

The misses didn’t shake the coach’s confidence.

“I still want him to be aggressive and play his game,” Fernández said.

Brown found ways to contribute before finding his shot.

The 20-year-old assisted Chaney Johnson on a 3-pointer, found Moritz Wagner for a layup and set up Porter for a transition 3. Even with his jumper failing him, Brown was creating opportunities for teammates, keeping Brooklyn’s offense moving while searching for his own breakthrough.

Then, with 6:42 remaining, the ball finally went through.

Brown buried a 26-foot trey to complete a 9-0 run, putting the Nets ahead 99-97. Another triple followed, restoring a 102-99 advantage. The rookie who had spent three quarters searching for a basket was suddenly playing with the confidence Fernández had been asking him to maintain.

And when the game got close, Brown kept answering. His driving layup tied the score at 111 with 44.9 seconds left, though another rookie mistake followed when Derrick White slipped behind him for a dunk and three-point play.

Boston eventually built a four-point advantage in the closing seconds. A series of missed free throws courtesy of Mitchell Robinson, however, left Brooklyn with one final opportunity.

The Nets trailed 117-114 with 2.7 seconds left. Keon Ellis inbounded the ball to Brown in the left corner, where the rookie caught it and buried a 3 with 0.2 seconds remaining.

Overtime.

Brown had scored 13 fourth-quarter points on 4-for-6 shooting, adding three assists. He scored or assisted on 21 of Brooklyn’s 35 points in the period, complementing Porter’s 12-point effort as the Nets refused to go away.

For a player who’d barely made an offensive dent through three quarters, it was a remarkable turnaround.

The most audacious shot came in overtime.

With 2:01 remaining, Brown pulled up from 32 feet and connected, stretching Brooklyn’s lead to 124-119. The sixth overall pick had just delivered another enormous basket, this one seemingly putting the Nets in position to escape Boston with a victory.

The young guard wouldn’t make another shot.

Brown missed his final five attempts, including three 3-pointers as the Celtics chipped away at Brooklyn’s lead. His first late layup attempt also missed, but a successful challenge by Fernández overturned a foul call and restored possession to the Nets with 6.1 seconds remaining.

That’s when Porter had his arms around Brown.

The Nets had survived another scare. There was still time to finish what the rookie had helped start.

“It was discussed to just try to get it in, and try to kill time,” Brown said.

Instead, Brown attacked the basket after receiving the inbound pass. He explained afterward that the ball was slipping as Paul George approached from his right, and he feared going out of bounds if he didn’t attempt the shot.

The layup rolled off the rim. George secured the rebound with 2.3 seconds left. Boston had one final chance.

And there was another mistake.

Fernández wanted Noah Clowney to remain matched up with Jayson Tatum, preserving a bigger defender against Boston’s primary scoring threat. Brown switched instead, leaving Tatum with a smaller defender and enough room to rise for an elbow jumper.

The shot fell as the buzzer sounded. Tatum finished with 40 points. Brooklyn fell to 0-4.

“I blame me,” Brown said.

Fernández knew the mistakes needed correcting. Running out the clock would have forced Boston to foul, and the defensive assignment on Tatum had been made clear. But Fernández also understood the responsibility that came with putting Brown in those situations. He acknowledged considering a defensive substitution before Boston’s final possession, ultimately deciding against inserting someone who had spent the game on the bench.

“That’s on me if that’s what I’m completely comfortable with,” Fernández said. “Also, he has to go through those other games and it’s important for him.”

Brown’s workload reflected that growing trust. He played 27 minutes and 44 seconds, including all five minutes of overtime, as the Nets continued to gradually build up his conditioning.

Fernández explained that the two days between games allowed Brooklyn to assess the rookie’s physical response and feel comfortable extending him. His progression remained deliberate, with no immediate plans to move him into the starting lineup. But Fernández also emphasized that Brown wasn’t receiving minutes simply because he was a highly drafted rookie. He earned them.

Tuesday demonstrated both what Brown could do with that responsibility and how much he still had to learn. The mistakes were costly. He knew it. Fernández knew it. Nothing could change the outcome or give Brooklyn back a victory that had been within reach.

But Fernández had also watched Brown overcome a miserable shooting start, create for his teammates and deliver repeatedly with the game hanging in the balance.

“Mistakes happen,” Fernández said. “I’ve made mistakes all my life and some of them just stay with you a little long and they hurt, but you gotta move on.”

Brown wasn’t happy with himself, Fernández acknowledged. The coach wasn’t asking him to ignore the ending, only to remember the rest of the night.

“He got it going and he showed that when the big lights are bright and they’re on, he can perform,” Fernández said.

The Nets didn’t get their first win. Brown didn’t get the finish he’d earned a chance to deliver. But the rookie gave fans a glimpse of what greater responsibility might produce, even if his most important lessons came after the shots stopped falling.

Afterward, Brown addressed Brooklyn directly in a post on X. There were no excuses, just accountability and a promise.

“THAT ONE IS ON ME BROOKLYN! IMMA SHAKE BACK I PROMISE YALL DAT💯”