For a moment, it looked like the Nets had pulled off something improbable.
Egor Dëmin had just drilled his fifth 3-pointer of the night, a contested, off-balance bomb over Wendell Carter Jr. to put Brooklyn ahead late in overtime. Barclays Center was buzzing. Michael Porter Jr. had carried the Nets all night. The comeback was complete.
Or so it seemed.
Paolo Banchero answered with the final blow, burying a contested trey over Porter through contact to steal a 104-103 overtime win for the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night. The loss dropped Brooklyn to 11-23 and wasted one of Porter’s biggest nights as a Net.
Porter finished with 34 points and tied a career-high with eight 3-pointers, but meaningful help didn’t arrive until the game was already hanging by a thread.
Dëmin scored all 10 of Brooklyn’s points in overtime, finishing with 18 in 32 minutes. Banchero led Orlando with 30 points, 14 rebounds and six assists, none bigger than the last 3-pointer he made.
The chaos of the finish overshadowed a game that spent most of the night trending in the opposite direction.
Brooklyn opened with a reshuffled starting lineup that raised eyebrows before the tip. The Nets started Porter, Dëmin, Ziaire Williams, Noah Clowney and Day’Ron Sharpe, with Nic Claxton coming off the bench in his return from a two-game absence. Terance Mann was available but didn’t start, a notable decision given his veteran ball-handling responsibilities.
Claxton checked in alongside Danny Wolf at the five-minute mark of the first quarter as the Nets began mixing and matching early. Both teams went deep into their benches, and the opening period reflected it. Shots didn’t fall. Rhythm was hard to find. Orlando shot below 40%, but Tristan da Silva scored nine early points. Porter was already cooking, pouring in 12 to keep Brooklyn afloat. A Cam Thomas driving floater with 2.8 seconds left gave the Nets a 23-21 lead after one.
Orlando took control in the second. The Magic shot 50% in the quarter and matched it from deep, with Banchero and Carter asserting themselves inside. Noah Penda added six off the bench, while Brooklyn struggled to generate clean looks or offer much resistance defensively.
By halftime, the numbers were ugly. The Nets shot 16-for-43 overall, went 6-for-25 from deep, finished with nine assists and nine turnovers and were crushed on the glass 29-19. Outside of Porter’s 18 points, no Net had more than five. Orlando already had three players in double figures. Somehow, Brooklyn trailed by only five.
Mann didn’t play in the first half.
Nothing flipped after the break. Orlando stayed in control in the third, leaning on Banchero, who went 4-for-5 in the period. Brooklyn shot below 40% again and committed five more turnovers on a night it finished with 21. Porter entered the fourth with 26 points and was still the only Net in double figures until Thomas got there on a free throw with 40 seconds left. The Nets trailed 79-64 heading to the fourth.
Then came the surge.
Brooklyn outscored Orlando, 29-14, in the final frame. Porter knocked down back-to-back 3s to cut the deficit to eight. He attacked the rim, earned free throws and kept pushing. A Dëmin trey. A Clowney jumper. Timely stops. Suddenly, the Nets were within one with just over a minute left.
It looked like Clowney had given Brooklyn the lead with 23.3 seconds left, but the basket was waved off for interference on Sharpe. Out of an Orlando timeout, a defensive breakdown led to a Silva dunk to push the Magic back up three.
Porter missed the Nets’ first look, but Sharpe grabbed the offensive rebound and kicked it to Dëmin, who buried the biggest shot of his young career — at least at that point — to tie it with 4.9 seconds left. Banchero missed at the buzzer, sending the game to overtime, Brooklyn’s first extra session since March of last season.
Dëmin took over from there. A 3 off a jump ball win by Sharpe. Another after Carter’s runout dunk. Ten points in five minutes.
And still, it wasn’t enough.
The Nets are back at Barclays Center on Friday to face the Los Angeles Clippers.
