TORONTO — The finale of the Nets’ preseason provided a sneak preview of their regular season. They play hard. They play sloppily. And they lose.
Brooklyn fell 119-114 at the Raptors on Friday, turning the ball over wantonly and digging a deep hole before a fourth-quarter rally came up just short.
Michael Porter Jr., despite being a game-time decision with jet lag, poured in a game-high 34 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 6-of-11 from deep. It’s a statement of just how porous the forward’s defense was that he finished minus-8.
Defensive-minded Ziaire Williams scored 20 on an encouraging 4-of-8 from behind the arc, an auspicious sign for the season.
But Cam Thomas had just seven points on uncharacteristic 1-of-10 shooting, 0-of-4 from deep.
Most damning were the turnovers.
The Nets committed 23 turnovers to hand over 34 points, but they committed 16 for 31 in the first half alone. They dug an 18-point third-quarter hole and spent too much energy digging out.
“Handling their physicality, obviously, was what we struggled with in the first half,” coach Jordi Fernández said. “But then we responded and had seven turnovers for three points in the second half, held them to 47 points.”
“Happy with the adversity that especially our young point guards had to deal with. And happy with how they responded. And I want all of them to keep being positive and play, take advantage of the next opportunity because it will happen.”
In the first half, Nolan Traore and Ben Saraf combined for one point, two assists and six turnovers in 13:20 ineffective minutes.
Meanwhile, Egor Dëmin, who scored 14 points, had 11 points in more than 10 turnover-free minutes at the break. Saraf settled in during the second half and helped spark a 16-1 fourth-quarter run to briefly take the lead. Briefly.
Grant Nelson was available after signing an Exhibit 10 deal.
It’s essentially a training camp invite with a late opportunity for the undrafted 23-year-old forward from Alabama to prove himself.
“I think mainly just come out here and compete every day because I’m really still competing for a spot and competing for playing time,” Nelson told The Post. “So really, they’re just telling me to continue what I’m doing and just keep coming and showing up every day and doing everything I can to keep making the guys better on the team and also make myself better.”
Nelson went to Las Vegas Summer League with the Nets and was expected to ink his Exhibit 10 shortly thereafter, but he developed a nagging injury — “a stress reaction from overworking,” he said — and was delayed.
“It was like a small, little minor injury that held me out of training camp. And then I feel like I did everything I could. I caught the injury really early, so I wasn’t out long. But it worked out perfect. So now I’m back healthy, feeling 100 percent.”
Nelson was signed after the Nets waived Zeng Fanbo.
Fernández was coy about whether the Nets would sign the Chinese forward to Long Island since they retain his G-League rights.
“We haven’t discussed that. It was great having him. I haven’t got the details of what’s next,” Fernández said. “But he’s done a great job being part of the group in training camp, and we had a great experience in Macao in the two games we played, not just him but the whole group.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
