Michael Porter Jr. leads Nets to impressive 127-115 win over Nuggets
NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Porter Jr. he scored 27 points, 11 rebounds and five assists in his first game against his former team, and the Brooklyn Nets beat the Denver Nuggets 127-115 on Sunday to snap a three-game losing streak.
The Nuggets won Aaron Gordon AND Cristiano Braun returning from long absences due to injury and an important match Jamal Murraybut has since dropped to 1-2 Nikola Jokić he was lost for perhaps a month due to a hyperextended left knee.
Announcement
Murray finished with 27 points, 16 assists and a career-high six rebounds. Gordon had 20 points off the bench after missing 19 games with a right hamstring strain, while Braun started and scored four points after sitting out 23 games with a sprained left ankle.
Noah Clownney added 22 points for the Nets, while Cam Thomas AND Day’Ron Sharpe each had 17. Sharpe started in center with Nic Claxton out for personal reasons.
Porter played six seasons for the Nuggets after being selected with the No. 14 pick in the 2018 draft and was a starter on the 2023 NBA championship team. He was traded to Brooklyn in the offseason for Cam Johnson and averaged a career-high 25.8 points.
He scored nine points in the second quarter and Brooklyn led 59-52 at halftime after Murray’s shot with 0.2 seconds to play.
Announcement
The Nets quickly opened the net again in the third quarter. Brooklyn was 7 of 9 from three-point range in the period, scoring 41 points and taking a 100-84 lead into the quarter.
Tim Hardaway Jr. had two 3-pointers to open the quarter and cut it to 10, but Thomas scored the final seven points of a 12-0 run that put it up 112-90.
Hardaway scored 26 goals but Denver fell to 1-4 in its seven-game East Coast trip. Johnson remained out with a knee injury.
Next
Nuggets: Visit Philadelphia on Monday.
Nets: Host Orlando on Tuesday.