The Brooklyn Nets withstood a career-best 39 points from Portland’s Scoot Henderson to snap a five-game losing streak with a 132-114 win over the host Trail Blazers on Tuesday night.
Cameron Johnson, who entered the game with an ankle injury, scored 24 points for Brooklyn. Noah Clowney and Keon Johnson had 20 each.
Henderson, who also dished six assists, connected on 13 of 18 shots from the floor and 8 of 10 from 3-point range.
Fellow second-year Blazer Toumani Camara also chalked up a career-high 23 points, and Shaedon Sharpe added 21.
The Nets went 19 of 41 from deep and had 36 assists from their 49 field goals, with 11 turnovers. Portland had 20 assists and 17 turnovers.
Henderson was aggressive from the outset, chalking up a season-best 17 first-quarter points and momentarily wiping out an early 25-15 deficit for the Blazers. But Brooklyn had more contributors at the other end.
Cameron Johnson and sixth man Jalen Wilson paced a 16-2 burst spanning the first-quarter horn to help the Nets march ahead 46-30.
Henderson hit his first eight field goals and his first six 3-pointers. He led a 14-3 Portland response, before he received some much-needed help from Camara. The pair trimmed the Blazers’ buffer to 66-61 at intermission.
Henderson’s 25-point tally before halftime was a season high, as were Camara’s 19 points. The pair combined for 10 of 15 3-pointers at halftime — the rest of Portland’s team was 1 of 4.
Shaedon Sharpe’s coast-to-coast layup closed the gap to three to start the third period before Cameron Johnson and Noah Clowney combined to give control back to the Nets, who led 98-88 at the end of the quarter.
Tyrese Martin’s running dunk made it 112-97 midway through the fourth.
Portland hit three buckets in 59 seconds to reduce the margin to single digits and force Brooklyn to call timeout. The Nets strengthened their grip on the contest down the stretch.
–Field Level Media
