Michael Porter Jr. likely has suffered \u2014 and overcome \u2014 more back injuries than any player in the NBA.<\/p>\n
But Friday, the talent-starved Nets got a good look at their offense with Porter sidelined by fresh back woes.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t pretty.<\/p>\n
The shorthanded Nets struggled through an ugly 115-103 NBA Cup loss to the visiting 76ers before a sellout crowd of 17,809 at Barclays Center.<\/p>\n
Already without Cam Thomas, the Nets played sans Porter, sidelined by low back tightness. <\/p>\n
Egor D\u0451min drives to the basket during the Nets\u2019 Nov. 28 loss to the 76ers. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
They can downplay it all they want, but it will set off alarms when Porter is sidelined with such a familiar issue.<\/p>\n
The way they looked Friday will raise more alarms.<\/p>\n
The Nets shot 40.5 percent, and just 13 of 43 from deep.<\/p>\n
Trailing 42-31 after a Terance Mann jumper, the Nets allowed a 12-2 run as the game slipped away.<\/p>\n
The Nets suffered through a six-minute drought without a basket that spanned intermission, from 4:42 left in the second quarter through 10:42 of the third when Mann scored.<\/p>\n
Egor D\u00ebmin was one of the few bright spots. <\/p>\n
The rookie poured in a career-high 23 points with nine rebounds and five assists \u2014 with 15 points and four boards in the fourth quarter as the Nets furiously tried to rally.<\/p>\n
Paul George attempts a shot during the Nets\u2019 loss to the 76ers on Nov. 28. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
But after trailing by as many as 21, their inability to score had dug too deep a hole.<\/p>\n
The offense looked toothless without Porter, and his status for Saturday\u2019s tilt in Milwaukee very much is in doubt.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, we\u2019re never going to rush him. His health, body, is the No. 1 priority,\u201d Nets coach Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez said beforehand. \u201cWe\u2019re not concerned. [It\u2019s] tightness, and we\u2019ll see how he feels, and then we\u2019ll give an update after the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Porter actually has been something of an iron man, entering Friday leading the Nets in both total and average minutes. <\/p>\n
He\u2019d led Denver in starts the past two years as well, all the more impressive considering his history of back issues.<\/p>\n
After herniated discs and a third back surgery in December 2021, Porter has been left with damage to the peroneal nerve, and needed a brace for \u201cfoot drop.\u201d <\/p>\n
Nontraditional means have helped Porter get past the injury woes, but back tightness actually cropped up earlier this week.<\/p>\n
Porter suffered through arguably his worst performance as a Net in Monday\u2019s loss to the rival Knicks. <\/p>\n
Tyrese Maxey drives with the ball during the 76ers\u2019 win over the Nets on Nov. 28. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
He finished with 16 points for a minus-21, shooting 6 of 15 and an uncharacteristic 1 of 9 from deep.<\/p>\n
Fern\u00e1ndez acknowledged the back issue cropped up in that defeat.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe felt tightness,\u201d said Fern\u00e1ndez, who spent four years with Porter in Denver as a Nuggets assistant. \u201cAs you know, Michael is a player that\u2019s fought through everything in his career, and you got to give him credit for what he\u2019s gone through and at the level he\u2019s played. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s the reason why [he shot poorly].<\/p>\n
\u201cI give him credit because he always wants to be there for his teammates. The good thing with Mike is, if he goes 1-for-9 one game, I think the next game he\u2019s going to go 9-for-9 because, at the end of the day, it evens out. Every time he shoots it, I think it\u2019s going in. So, even right there that he was not making shots, I don\u2019t know exactly the reason, but I thought every shot was going in.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Porter is averaging 24.3 points and 7.4 rebounds, both career bests. <\/p>\n
With Cam Thomas sidelined by a hamstring issue, Porter has been the Nets\u2019 offensive focal point and would be sorely missed if he\u2019s out for an extended time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tough. Being without Mike is definitely going to be tough,\u201d Nic Claxton said. \u201cHe does a lot for us, especially on the offensive side of the basketball. He just causes so much attention. And he can get a shot off whenever. So, it\u2019s going to be a collective effort.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, in a clash of the league\u2019s only two-win teams, the Pacers (3-16) beat the Wizards (2-16). <\/p>\n
That left the Nets (3-15) in fourth in the lottery standings but now essentially just a half-game behind Indiana and New Orleans \u2014 whose pick belongs to Atlanta.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Porter Jr. likely has suffered \u2014 and overcome \u2014 more back injuries than any player in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,355,99,4570,4600,21,9,24,63,9126,319],"class_list":{"0":"post-55318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-brooklyn","9":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","10":"tag-brooklyn-nets","11":"tag-brooklyn-news","12":"tag-jordi-fernandez","13":"tag-michael-porter-jr","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-city","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","19":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}