Brooklyn witnessed a new lead scorer emerge on Monday without Porter Jr. Who was it?
The Brooklyn Nets entered the Monday evening showdown against the Memphis Grizzlies without Egor Demin and Michael Porter Jr.
DayRon Sharpe answered the bell in handling lead scorer duties for the latter.
Sharpe dropped 19 points in 18 minutes of action to help will the Nets to the 126-115 victory over the visitors inside the Barclays Center.
MPJ ended up taking a rest night. Demin, however, became a huge blow for the Nets as he'll sit out the rest of the season.
“He was dealing with discomfort, and it got worse and worse," his head coach Jordi Fernandez explained before the game via Erik Slater of ClutchPoints. "We decided to take a look and make sure we can settle it a little bit. We ended up asking for different opinions, and this is what was recommended to us.”
But again, Sharpe rose to the occasion for the Nets. Plus took flight for this poster dunk:
Brooklyn even "framed" the photo for all of social media to see.
Sharpe added five rebounds plus two assists and two steals on the defensive side. And he wasn't the lone breakout performer for Brooklyn.
Ochai Agbaji delivered 18 points off the bench, which now becomes his best scoring output in a Brooklyn uniform since the trade from the Toronto Raptors. He completed the scoring feat in a span of 22 minutes and grabbed three rebounds.
Nolan Traore took the mantle of top rookie performer. He delivered 17 points in the absence of Demin. He also dished out four assists.
Danny Wolf stepped up as a breakthrough rookie too in scoring 14 points. Wolf came close to completing the double-double too by grabbing nine rebounds.
Ziaire Williams added 11 points in 19 minutes with five rebounds. Noah Clowney emerged as the last to reach double figures with 10 points in 20 minutes.
Nic Claxton landed on the scoring stat sheet by hitting nine points. Drake Powell delivered the same amount in his return from his G-League assignment. Jalen Wilson scored six points while Ben Saraf scored four points but led the team with seven assists.
It's the second straight time that the Nets have won while being the underdog. They defeated the Detroit Pistons on Saturday with the Pistons a 14-point favorite.
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