After a busy yet grounded trade deadline for Brooklyn, the Nets still had a game to play Thursday night in Orlando. What followed was another reminder that the franchise remains in transition.
Brooklyn fell to the Orlando Magic 118-98 at Kia Center, dropping to 13-37 and extending its skid to three games. There were encouraging stretches from the rookie backcourt, flashes that hinted at what might be coming, but not nearly enough to overcome a night where Michael Porter Jr. struggled mightily, finishing with just nine points on 2-for-13 shooting in 32 minutes.
Egor Dëmin finished with a career-high 26 points and six 3-pointers, while fellow rookie Nolan Traoré added 21 points and eight assists in his fifth straight start. Danny Wolf, the 27th overall pick, chipped in 13 points and six rebounds in 22 minutes off the bench.
Dëmin carried Brooklyn’s offense out of the gate, opening 3-for-4 from the field and 2-for-3 from deep in his first seven minutes. With Cam Thomas waived earlier in the afternoon, Porter entered the night as Brooklyn’s primary offensive option, but he missed his first four shots and took a seat nine minutes in, leaving Dëmin to shoulder the load.
Nic Claxton picked up his 188th assist of the season on his first dime of the night, passing Brook Lopez for the most assists by a center in a single season in franchise history, and scored five points on his first three attempts. But even that couldn’t mask the imbalance.
Brooklyn was still within two points when head coach Jordi Fernández went to his bench at the 4:40 mark. Orlando responded immediately with a 5-0 run, pushing its lead to 22-15 and forcing Fernández into a second timeout. By the time Porter finally knocked down his first field goal, a 3-pointer assisted by Ben Saraf at the 3:17 mark, the Magic were already shooting 56.3%.
Brooklyn closed the quarter down 27-19, having hit just 31.8% of its shots. With turnovers piling up and looks failing to fall, the separation felt inevitable. Orlando made it so, opening the second quarter on a 12-2 run to stretch its advantage to 13 points with 9:26 left in the half.
When Desmond Bane knocked down his first 3-pointer of the night with 7:51 remaining, the lead ballooned to 17 and sent Fernández back to the sideline for another timeout.
Dëmin and Claxton did what they could. The pair combined for 22 points in the first half. No one else helped. The other 10 Nets who saw minutes before the break shot just 6-for-30, with Saraf, Noah Clowney, Drake Powell and Day’Ron Sharpe all scoreless. Orlando, meanwhile, got production up and down the lineup, building a 56-40 halftime lead while holding Brooklyn to 34.1% shooting.
Nothing changed.
As the Magic continued to pull away, Dëmin remained the lone constant for Brooklyn. Claxton cooled off. Porter stayed cold. Dëmin, though, kept firing, reaching 21 points on his fifth 3-pointer of the night with 6:59 left in the third quarter, marking his most points through three quarters and his fifth 20-point game. His early burst trimmed what had grown into a 22-point deficit down to 16, briefly injecting life into the Nets’ bench.
It didn’t last.
Dëmin scored 11 points in the period, but Brooklyn managed just 27 as a team, surrendered 32 on 54.2% shooting and entered the fourth quarter trailing by 21. The Nets never meaningfully cut into the gap down the stretch.
Overall, Brooklyn shot just 41.5% for the game and committed 19 turnovers. Orlando shot 53.7%, tallied 32 assists on 44 made field goals and was led by Desmond Bane, who finished with 23 points as part of a balanced effort that never let the Nets back in.
There was a notable moment for Brooklyn fans in the final frame. With 9:54 left and the Nets trailing by 21 points, all five of the team’s recent first-round picks shared the floor for the first time this season. They ripped off a 7-0 run.
After a whirlwind 24 hours and another lopsided loss, the Nets will return to Barclays Center on Saturday to face the Washington Wizards, a game that could offer a first extended look at Brooklyn’s new-look group.
