Nets’ Michael Porter Jr. battles through off night against Heat

Michael Porter Jr. scored above his season average in the Nets’ 106-95 loss to the Miami Heat on Thursday at Barclays Center, although his 10-of-20 shooting and 5-of-14 mark from deep reflected a night when Brooklyn couldn’t find much offensive rhythm.

Porter was not alone in the struggle. Noah Clowney finished 2 of 13, Egor Demin went 5 of 18 and Tyrese Martin shot 1 of 8 off the bench. The Nets shot just 38.8 percent overall, including 11 of 49 from 3-point range, and Miami capitalized on Brooklyn’s 13 turnovers, converting them into 18 points.

Miami’s defensive rating of 111.2 ranks third in the NBA, behind Detroit and Oklahoma City. Still, Porter joked that his struggles had less to do with the Heat’s defense and more to do with a careless weight training session.

“I think I lifted too much before the match,” Porter said. “I think I lifted my upper body too much yesterday, so my shot was a little flat or a little short on a lot of them. Yeah, I was in the weight room too much.”

The veteran forward still gave Miami credit, acknowledging the Heat’s commitment to removing him from the game.

“It’s a good defense. They’ve been a good defense for years,” Porter said. “[Bam Adebayo] has been a candidate for Defensive Player of the Year for many years. And then Davion Mitchell, I mean, he’s one of the best on-ball defenders I’ve probably seen, and then the other guys are pretty good too. Andrew Wiggins was glued to me. Norman Powell can guard. I always feel like we could have taken more shots. I definitely could have played better.

It’s been difficult for the Nets to win when Porter is shooting 42 percent or less from the field, but after Thursday’s loss, head coach Jordi Fernández wasn’t willing to attribute the result to any one player. The 27-year-old has put up All-Star level production for most of the season, and off nights are part of that territory.

The challenge for Brooklyn is learning to better absorb these nights when they come.

“I think they are the number four defensive team in the NBA,” Fernández said. “So, not just good, they’re a really good defense with physical defenders. So that’s number one, and then number two is…Too much dancing and not finishing cuts and not cutting through the rim and to the outside. Like, we just had a wrestling game, and it was a physical game, and we could have been better with our off-ball execution. I thought we looked good, like, I thought Mike looked good. I thought that Noah had a good appearance, I thought that Egor had a good appearance.

“And we could have made a few more, but I’m not worried. I have to go back and watch it again, but I like the shots, I’m OK with that. I didn’t agree throughout the execution… We didn’t do a good enough job of setting screens on the ball and then what we did with those cuts and mixing it all together. We’re going to watch it, I’m going to help them. We’re going to have good teams coming in, or we’re going to see some good teams with good defensive teams, so it’s a good thing for us.