The Nets Struggle Without Michael Porter Jr.

The Brooklyn Nets are still searching for a win without Michael Porter Jr. and, honestly, this latest game was a bit of a letdown.

On Sunday night, they faced off against the Chicago Bulls, and the result was a hefty 124-102 loss in front of nearly 20,000 fans at the United Center.

Head coach Jordi Fernandes started the second half with four of his usual starters, leaving only Nick Claxton on the bench.

This defeat didn’t catch anyone off guard. The Nets now sit at 0-8 in games played without Porter and have been outscored by an average of 15.3 points during that stretch. Sunday’s game was, well, even rougher.

As anticipated, the Nets’ offense was colder than the wintry Chicago air outside. Rookie Nolan Traore managed to put up 16 points, but without Porter’s ability to create space and generate offense, the team struggled to keep pace with the Bulls, especially Coby White, who scored 24 points.

Defensively, things didn’t look much better. The Nets allowed 41 assists, a season-high for the Bulls. They also gave up 52.1 percent shooting, including a staggering 69.6 percent in the first quarter, where they quickly fell behind by 19 points.

It’s like they didn’t even attempt to fight their way back into the game.

Just two nights prior, the Nets had led by 20 points in the fourth quarter of a game against the same Bulls and barely hung on for the win. But this time, the energy completely shifted in Chicago.

Rookies Danny Wolf and Terrence Mann were pegged to fill in for the missing Porter and Drake Powell but spent the first half warming the bench alongside starters Egor Demin and Noah Clowney.

On the brighter side, the Nets are still in the running. They’re just a game behind No. 6 Utah, which has been struggling in the lottery standings, and catching up to No. 4 Sacramento, ahead of their matchup with Portland later that night.

The game took a nosedive early, with the Nets down 18-3 in the first quarter.

They briefly led 21-17 after a layup from Cam Thomas, but then the Bulls found their rhythm, connecting on eight of their next nine shots, pushing the Nets to only 1-7 at one point.

Ayo Dosunmu hit a 3-pointer to take the lead, and Tre Jones capped the quarter, leaving the Nets trailing 39-20 with just 25.6 seconds remaining.

As the second quarter progressed, the Bulls’ lead ballooned to 20 points. By halftime, Fernandes had already pulled his starters, opting for a lineup including Thomas, Jalen Wilson, Tyrese Martin, and Traore.

However, Dosunmu sank another 3-pointer with 8:29 left, extending the score to 103-76.

Clowney struggled, shooting 3-for-11 and finishing the game with a -18 rating.

On a brighter note, Traore did set career highs with those 16 points on 4-for-5 from deep. Thomas, tying his career-high with 10 assists, ironically did it against the Bulls, similar to last season before injury sidelined him. Yet, on a night when the Nets desperately needed scoring to compensate for Porter’s absence, he managed just 1 of 6 shooting.