Nets use suddenly stifling defense to rout Raptors…
From October to now, the Nets defense has gone from sieve to stout.
Sunday, it was smothering.
Brooklyn rolled to a 96-81 rout of the visiting Raptors before a sellout crowd of 17,548 at Barclays Center.
And it wasn’t high-scoring offense that led the best way but suddenly stifling work on the other end of the ground.
The Nets (8-19) allowed their fewest factors of the season, besting the 82 they’d conceded in a 45-point rout of Milwaukee precisely a week earlier.
It’s the first time they’ve held foes to 82 factors or fewer a number of instances in a season since 2018-19.
And defense is changing into less of a fluke and more of an expectation.
The Nets are holding opponents to just 102.3 factors per sport so far in December, the fewest in the NBA, surpassing the reigning champion Thunder.
Considering the embarrassing means they opened this season — compiling a league-worst 128.5 defensive score during an 0-7 start — the turnaround is surprising.
Noah Clowney defends during the Nets’ Dec. 21 win over the Raptors. Heather Khalifa for the NY Post
The Nets matched their best defensive first quarter (18 factors) and had their best defensive half (39 factors) of the season.
Then they went out and closed the deal.
Trailing 71-69 with 10:10 after a bucket by Toronto’s Immanuel Quickley, the Nets mounted a 24-6 blitz.
They held the Raptors to 1-of-10 capturing in that run and hit 10-of-13 themselves to seize the sport.
Michael Porter Jr. had 24 factors and 11 rebounds, while lottery choose Egor Dëmin added 16 factors, 5 rebounds, two steals and hit 4-of-8 from deep.
The Nets defend against Brandon Ingram during their win Dec. 21. Heather Khalifa for the NY Post
The Nets held Toronto to 37.2 % capturing and 10-of-36 from 3-point vary.
With the sport knotted at 36-all with 3:20 left in the half on Brandon Ingram’s driving layup, the Nets untied it.
Noah Clowney’s free throw capped a 14-3 run that spanned intermission and put the Nets forward 50-39.
The lead was 67-54 with 1:47 left in the third quarter, when the Nets offense went into a funk.
They coughed up 15 unanswered factors and the lead.
By the time Brooklyn missed 5 straight pictures and gave away a couple of turnovers, Quickley had discovered Collin Murray-Boyles for a working dunk and put the Nets in a 69-67 gap just over a minute into the fourth.
But the Nets answered proper back with a 15-4 blitz of their own.
Porter Jr. stemmed the tide, bullying in for a game-tying layup.
Dëmin drilled a 3-pointer that made it 79-73 and despatched the Raptors scurrying for a timeout.
And Clowney rattled home a left-corner 3 of his own to cap the run and pad the cushion to 82-73.
They pulled away from there.
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