DALLAS \u2014 Young teams have to learn how to win in the endgame. Friday\u2019s fourth quarter folding was an example of that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Nets lost 119-111 to the Mavericks before 19,032 at American Airlines Center, a game where they couldn\u2019t buy a basket or a rebound down the stretch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brooklyn shot just 6-for-21 overall and 2-for-9 from deep in the final quarter, getting outscored 29-19 and sent home with a loss.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt came down to the defensive rebounding in the fourth; 10 second-chance points in the fourth quarter. That\u2019s how you lose games. And also transition defense,\u201d coach Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been better lately; a good team rebounding the ball and a good team in transition defense. And we couldn\u2019t get it done [Friday].\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brooklyn Nets\u2019 Michael Porter Jr. (17) works for a shot as Dallas Mavericks\u2019 Naji Marshall (13) defends in the first half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. AP<\/p>\n
It was actually 7-0 in second-chance points in that fourth quarter, but the point stands.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Michael Porter Jr. \u2014 who poured in a game-high 34 points \u2014 drilled a 3-pointer to knot the score at 110-all with 3:10 to play. But they watched it get untied thanks to their own floundering offense, going 0-for-6 with two turnovers down the stretch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe kept looking at Mike, instead of using him and others taking or making the shot,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton (33) is fouled by Dallas Mavericks forward Anthony Davis (3) during the second half at the American Airlines Center. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a different brand of basketball in the last quarter, but really the last seven, eight minutes. It really tightens up and you\u2019ve got to hold your spots a little better,\u201d Porter said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be more aggressive. Guys are going to get away with more holding, so just being strong the last seven, eight minutes and being decisive.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Nets (6-18) sit sixth in the lottery odds, now a half-game behind OKC (via the Clippers), Sacramento and Indiana, all tied for third.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Nets couldn\u2019t stop Anthony Davis in the second half, and couldn\u2019t stop Cooper Flagg at all. Davis scored 20 of his 24 points after halftime, while Flagg had 22 points, eight assists and five rebounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trailing 65-59 after Davis found Max Christie for a 3-pointer with 28.7 seconds left in the first half, the Nets mounted a 19-8 run that spanned intermission.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Porter capped the run on a 3-pointer from Nic Claxton (14 points, 10 boards), putting the Nets up 78-73 with 7:49 left in the third.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Up by two, Brooklyn gave up a 7-0 run to fall behind 106-99. They managed to pull even, but their offense cratered and never got over the hump.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cooper Flagg of the Dallas Mavericks drives to the basket during the game against the Brooklyn Nets on December 12, 2025 at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Danny Wolf had 17 points and seven boards off the bench. Egor D\u00ebmin had just three points in 18:20, limited to 2:14 in the fourth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was trying to fix mistakes by trying to make things happen. And this is not how you want to do things,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cI need him to play with better readiness and better physicality. And this is not the way that the team needs him to play. So, he\u2019s got to be better. Otherwise, the minutes are going to go down, and somebody else will take advantage. I know he cares; he\u2019s always responded and punched back. So, he\u2019s way better than what he performed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DALLAS \u2014 Young teams have to learn how to win in the endgame. Friday\u2019s fourth quarter folding was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69657,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,355,99,10220,9139,4600,21,9,24,63,319],"class_list":{"0":"post-69656","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-cooper-flagg","13":"tag-dallas-mavericks","14":"tag-michael-porter-jr","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-city","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69656","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=69656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}