Michael Porter Jr. scored 33 points and Nic Claxton recorded his first career triple-double, fueling the visiting Brooklyn Nets to a 113-105 victory over the Boston Celtics on Friday to salvage a split of their home-and-home series.
Porter sank 13 of 21 shots from the floor — including 4 of 6 from 3-point range — to extend his career-best run of games with at least 20 points to eight in a row. He scored 16 points in the fourth quarter.
Brooklyn, which avenged its 113-99 home court setback on Tuesday, improved to 1-2 in NBA Cup Group B play. The Celtics, in turn, fell to 1-2.
Noah Clowney scored 19 points and Claxton had 18 to go along with 12 assists and 11 rebounds.
Rookie Egor Demin added 12 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Nets, who have recorded all three of their wins this season on the road.
Jaylen Brown collected 26 points and eight rebounds while dealing with foul trouble for the Celtics, and Anfernee Simons added 23 points off the bench.
Boston trimmed a 15-point deficit down to four at 96-94 following a 17-4 run to start the fourth quarter before Demin drained a crowd-silencing 3-pointer with 5:04 remaining. Porter sandwiched shots from the interior along with a 3-pointer to push Brooklyn’s lead to 106-97 with 2:50 to play.
Neemias Queta made a tip-in to bring the Celtics within three points at 71-68 midway into the third quarter before the Nets ignited a 19-4 run. Ziaire Williams threw down a dunk in transition to cap the sequence.
Brooklyn capped a 40-point second quarter with an 11-2 run. Demin scored four points during that sequence and recorded a crucial steal and set up a Clowney for a layup with 2.8 seconds remaining to give the Nets a 62-53 lead at halftime.
Porter drained a 3-pointer to stake Brooklyn to a 19-12 lead with 5:14 remaining in the first before Boston began a 16-3 run to end the quarter. Payton Pritchard converted three times from beyond the arc and Luka Garza added a 3-pointer during that sequence and the Celtics took a 28-22 lead after 12 minutes.
Brooklyn converted 43 of 82 shots from the floor (52.4%), while Boston attempted eight more shots, but sank one less field goal (42 of 90, 46.7%).
