Porter Jr.'s dominant performance fuels Nets' victory, snapping their losing streak with a commanding win over the Nuggets.
The Brooklyn Nets entered Sunday evening's matchup against the Denver Nuggets with a collective chip on their shoulder, as their star forward Michael Porter Jr. faced his former franchise for the very first time.
In a contest where Denver's first-time All-Star hopeful Jamal Murray dished a career-high 16 assists to pair with 27 points, it was Porter Jr. and company that came away with a 127-115 win in dominant fashion.
From the outset, the return of the Nuggets' pair of difference-makers in Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun were quickly nullified by Brooklyn's aggressiveness on both ends, as the Nets went 9-for-10 from the free-throw line and forced five Nuggets turnovers by the end of the first quarter.
Porter Jr. accounted for half of those free throw attempts and makes, finishing the opening frame with seven points on 5-for-5 shooting from the charity stripe. As for their game-wrecking defense, Day'Ron Sharpe's ability to jump passing lanes became a running theme of the first half, as he intercepted two Nuggets dishes.
'MPJ' was shot-happy in the first half, but it was a team effort offensively that led to the Nets opening up a double-digit lead in the second quarter. Egor Demin's three-point hit on the right wing with 4:24 left in the second gave him eight points and put the Nets up 51-43.
After withstanding Denver's Tim Hardaway Jr. pouring in 15 first-half points and Gordon's relentless rim-running, the Nets headed to the locker room with a 59-52 lead over the Nuggets due in large part to Porter Jr.'s 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists on 7-for-7 free-throw shooting.
To begin the second half, it was Noah Clowney and Cam Thomas who got things going. Clowney's red-hot shooting saw the athletic forward reach the 20-point mark with 7:32 left in the frame after he swished his fourth three-pointer of the night.
As a unit, the Nets blew things out of the proportion with their best third quarter of the season, scoring 41 points in the quarter to take a 100-84 lead into the final 12 minutes.
With the Nets facing a difficult challenge in closing out the contest against Murray, Cam Thomas came alive. After attempting just one shot in the first half, Thomas scored all of his 17 points in the second half, igniting several key runs for the Nets.
By the time the final buzzer sounded, Brooklyn finished with 50.6/42.4/83.8 shooting splits in a double-digit victory. Porter Jr. ended the night with a stellar 27 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, but Sharpe truly personified the Nets' two-way efforts with 17 points (tied season-high), six rebounds, four assists, three steals and one block on 6-for-9 shooting from the floor in a shade over 32 minutes.
The Nets officially snapped their three-game losing streak, and aim to claim back-to-back victories when they face off against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night.