Brooklyn’s defensive rebound and Egor Demin’s heat check fuel Raptors win

For the second consecutive game, Brooklyn Nets‘ the defense overpowered the opponent. Only this time, the rebuilding team found a shot in the fourth quarter to get over the hump.

The Nets played one of their best complementary fourth quarters of the season en route to a 95-81 win over Toronto Raptors on Sunday at the Barclays Center.

Brooklyn’s tight defense held the Raptors, who were on the road for the second straight night, to 32-of-86 shooting (37.2 percent) from the field and 10-of-36 (27.8 percent). The performance comes after the Nets held off the Milwaukee Bucks to 82 points during a 45-point win last week. It’s the first time they’ve held multiple opponents to 82 points or fewer in a season since 2018-19.

Despite the Nets’ suffocating defense, Sunday had the potential for another fourth-quarter collapse. The Raptors came back from a double-digit deficit to take a two-point lead with ten minutes left. However, Brooklyn responded with a 17-4 run to regain control, with the rookie Egor Demin hitting three 3-pointers to encourage flight.

“We fighting back (was the key),” Jordi Fernandez said. “They took the lead, and it was a collective effort. … Noah (Clowney) made some incredible plays, making plays at the rim, whether it was a block, or going vertical (and competing). And then Egor’s threes were huge. And then from there, I think everybody contributed in that fourth quarter, but if you look at three of four, we won three of four, but we won three of four. in that third, especially towards the end, and then we didn’t started really well in the fourth but we stayed composed and fought until the end and it was really good to see against a very good team.

EGOR… BET! pic.twitter.com/vScvA56C7f

— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklinNets) December 22, 2025

Demin finished with 16 points, five rebounds and three assists while shooting 6-of-10 from the field and 4-of-8 from three.

Defensive rebound leads Nets to another upset win

Michael Porter Jr. had another solid game, posting 24 points, 11 rebounds and five assists on 9-of-18 shooting. Meanwhile, Noah Clowney had one of his better two-way performances of the season, posting 19 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two blocks on 4-of-8 shooting from three.

The win marks Brooklyn’s fifth win in its last eight games. A shocking defensive turnaround has fueled the team’s recent success. Monitoring an 0-7 start during which they had the NBA’s worst defensive rating (128.5) by a wide margin, the Nets are 8-12 in their last 20 games while ranking 14th in defensive rating (112.0).

They limited opponents to 102.3 points per game in December, the lowest in the NBA.

“Our defense was pretty solid last month,” Nick Claxton said. “It’s been really good. We’ve just got to keep taking steps in the right direction. We’ve got a lot of interchangeable defensemen. There’s still a lot of areas we can improve on. We’ve just got to keep going.”

Brandon Ingram (19 points) and Immanuel Quickley (17 points) were the only Raptors to reach double figures on Sunday. The Nets held Scottie Barnes to just six points on 3-of-10 shooting.

With Drake Powell sidelined with an ankle injury, Nolan Traore received the first extended minutes in the NBA in almost two months on Sunday. Novak looked confident, scoring eight points, three rebounds and two assists on 3-of-9 shooting in 22 minutes.

The win moves the Nets to 8-19 on the season. They will travel to face the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday before another road trip with the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday.