Harden and Leonard ignite the Clippers, exposing Nets' defensive collapse. Porter Jr. struggles against defensive stalwart Leonard, missing all three-point attempts.
The Brooklyn Nets' No. 25 ranked offense (112.0 offensive rating) is sure to drop even further after their Friday night bout against Kawhi Leonard, James Harden and the Los Angeles Clippers.
In what proved to be an outstanding night for the pair of future Hall of Famers, Harden and Leonard powered the Clippers to win No. 8 in their past 10 games with a combined 57 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds, four steals and three blocks while converting on 68.5% of their attempts from the floor.
Brooklyn's defense allowed the Clippers to knock down 59.2% of their total field goal tries and an absurd 58.3% of their threes, and the Nets' hopeful first-time All-Star was unable to help his team counteract the brutal defensive performance.
Porter Jr. ran into a wall in the form of a one-on-one matchup with the 2-time Defensive Player of the Year award winner Leonard, as virtually every shot he let go of appeared more difficult than the last. That's saying something, considering the kinds of jump-shots that Porter Jr. is known to attempt from all sorts of ridiculous areas and angles.
The Nets' star scorer finished the bout with 18 points, six assists and four steals on 7-for-20 shooting from the floor, but his 0-for-9 night from three-point range marked the very first time he'd been held without a single made three all season long.
Egor Dëmin tried his best to make up for Porter Jr.'s difficulties with a team-high 19 points on 5-for-10 shooting from deep in 26 minutes of work.
Though his efforts did not result in another wild comeback similar to their unbelievable run against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night, he made some more Nets franchise history in this one by notching a second straight game with 5+ three-point hits, becoming the first Nets rookie to connect on that many long range attempts in back-to-back contests.
In all, Brooklyn's vaunted defense from this past month struggled mightily with accounting for Harden Leonard, and Los Angeles' offseason trade acquisition John Collins, who ended the evening with 16 points and three blocks of his own on 7-for-9 shooting. Collins supplied the Clippers with several high-impact and energetic plays, rising for emphatic dunks both off the dribble and off of slick lob passes from various teammates.
The Nets fall to 11-24 on the season, and their most recent defeat highlights just how important it's been for Porter Jr. to get off to a hot start each and every night. If he hits a rare snag, Brooklyn has been hard pressed to find a suitable, efficient and reliable second and third scoring options.
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