Michael Porter Jr. heeding call for more playmaking pays off in big way for Nets

WASHINGTON — They used to call Michael Porter Jr.“Never Swing the Rock.”After handing out a career-high seven assists in back-to-back games, that moniker might have to change.

Nets coach Jordi Fernández challenged Porter — who has always moved well off the ball — to get back to cutting and not falling in love with dribbling too much, to sacrifice himself for the team.The result has not only been improved playmaking, but a winning performance from the veteran forward.Porter had a game-high 34 points to lead Sunday’s 129-106 rout of Washington.

He was 11-of-18 shooting, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out seven assists.“He has a plan for him to get better and to show things that he hasn’t done before,” said Fernández.“And right now for him to buy into finishing his cuts, not dancing, not overdribbling, putting pressure on the rim, everybody benefits from it.

“And guess what? Usually when he does it, he’s the one benefiting from it.So we want him and need him to play like this, because that’s just contagious and good for the group.

So, very proud of him.”Porter shouldered the blame for Friday’s loss after 1-of-6 shooting down the stretch.Sunday, he cut well and didn’t drive into trouble.“When I was in Denver, everyone assumed that I was just getting some of those cuts because of Nikola [Jokic] and his vision.

But I’ve always been a cutter, a guy that likes to find easy buckets, use my size around the basket,” said Porter.“So coming over here, it’s something that I have been intentional about.

[Nic] Claxton and Day’Ron [Sharpe] can really pass the ball and they found me for a lot of easy points around the rim.So I got to keep doing that.”Claxton had a season-high four blocks to go with 17 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

His 15.2 points and 3.9 assist averages are career highs.Sign up for Inside the Nets by Brian Lewis, exclusively on Sports+.

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