Brooklyn watched four hit double figures but erupted in the final period to seal the upset of the Raptors. All while delivering this mark on defense.
The Brooklyn Nets created a reputation of falling apart in the fourth quarter this season. But that surely wasn't the case Sunday with the Toronto Raptors in town.
Brooklyn exploded with 29 points in the final period to seal the 96-81 win. But while the offense helped pull the Nets away, the defensive performance assured the rout of the Raptors.
With the Nets creating a new league-leading mark.
Brooklyn has now allowed only 102.3 points per game through the month of December, with Nets insider for ClutchPoints Erik Slater revealing it to be a league-leading mark.
Noah Clowney spearheaded the defensive charge there -- blocking two shots and becoming one rebound shy of a double-double. Clowney ended his night scoring 19 points.
But Michael Porter Jr. rose as the one hitting the double-double: 24 points with 11 rebounds. Ten of those boards came on the defensive side as Porter Jr. cleaned up the glass big. He continues to make his case for an NBA All-Star entry come Feb. 2026.
Ziarie Williams and Egor Demin surfaced as two more defensive forces -- combining for five steals with the former leading at three. Nic Claxton contributed on the defensive side too with grabbing seven rebounds (six defensively) and hitting 12 points.
The latter performer, though, began to bury Toronto from behind the arc to increase the lead.
Demin buried three different three-pointers to help erase the early deficit in the fourth. He made one other three which arrived during the first half.
Toronto last led 73-72 before the Nets turned to Demin, Clowney, Claxton, Terence Mann and rookie Nolan Traore to complete the fourth quarter scoring. Clowney stuck the dagger in at the 45.5 mark -- banking a 25-foot three-pointer for the final points of the night.
Traore came in via his G-League assignment to drop eight points off the bench. Day'Ron Sharpe added the same amount of points too. Williams and Tyrese Martin both scored two points off the bench.
Along with trusting its rare league-leading scoring defense in December, Brooklyn hit this new first for 2025-26: The Nets won their first game this season when they failed to score past 100 points. Brooklyn entered the Barclays Center a winless 0-5 in games when they fall below that point total.
Brooklyn outscored Toronto 29-16 in the fourth to secure the romp. Seven of the Nets' eight games have been won in lopsided double-digit fashion.