Brooklyn Nets survive near-collapse against Indiana Pacers, win 99-90

Brooklyn quickly built one of their biggest leads of the season, only to watch it wither away by the fourth quarter. But it’s how you finish, isn’t it?

Throughout the bowels of Barclays Center on Wednesday evening, one question dominated conversation prior to tip-off between the Brooklyn Nets and Indiana Pacers.

“What’s wrong with the Pacers this season?”

It’s a fair ask, without an easy answer. Rick Carlisle’s team was coming off a Tuesday night loss to the Toronto Raptors that dropped them to 9-13, with worse underlying metrics than that.

Sure, making the Eastern Conference Finals with the league’s second-best offense, per Cleaning the Glass, may have been a rich result for the Pacers last season. But this? The league’s 20th-ranked offense powered by the least efficient season of Tyrese Haliburton’s career thus far?

Conversely, the Brooklyn Nets are a known commodity through a quarter-season They’re small, but they scrap. Occasionally, they make a lot of 3-pointers. After a slow start that saw Indiana leading 6-3 at the first media timeout, Brooklyn did what they do, forcing a dozen Indiana turnovers and generally punching their less-spirited opponent with effort and well-balanced scoring.

Jump-shooters Cam Johnson and Shake Milton got to double-digits before the break, but everybody got in on the fun. Though Monday’s standout Dariq Whitehead received a DNP in this one, Day’Ron Sharpe and Nic Claxton both hit corner threes early on. Both of ‘em!

Brooklyn’s bench unit dominated early, with Milton, Sharpe, and Ben Simmons leading the charge. But while they deserve credit, any combination of Nets probably would have gotten the job done after that first media timeout.

While the Nets woke up and made shots, Indiana reached a level of back-to-back-itis previously unimaginable, trudging through offensive possessions with ankle weights attached. After the Chicago Bulls blew out Brooklyn, suffering from the same condition on Monday night, it was nice to be on the other side of the equation in the first half.

Still, Brooklyn had to seize their opportunity, and that they did on each end of the court, forcing turnovers while making their own shots. “We lost, and I wanna see the team respond. so at the end of the day, it’s all about them,” said Jordi Fernández pregame. Seems he got the response he was looking for, as the Nets built a 21-point lead midway through the second quarter.

Alas, nothing is easy with the Brooklyn Nets.

Indiana’s slow-burning comeback was started by an unlikely candidate, rookie sharp-shooter Johnny Furphy, who posted a career-high 12 points…

If Furphy was the flame, Brooklyn’s own offensive ineptitude was the gasoline. Sure, they lost some cutters and shooters as Indiana’s splits progressed closer to the mean, but their lead would not have suffered if their own offense didn’t die.

In an immediate role-reversal, the Nets turned it over seven times in the third quarter and shot 1-of-7 from three. A slow start to the fourth quarter and voila! Tie game, 80-80. Enter: the bench.

Milton, who finished with 15/3/4 and two steals, threw a ball skyward at the end of the shot-clock, as Brooklyn neared yet another 24-second violation. It sailed past Sharpe’s outstretched arms, past the basket, and right into the hands of Ben Simmons. Simmons would finish with a well-rounded 7/7/9/2/3 (no turnovers) but no play was more important than his go-ahead alley-oop dunk, flushing away Indiana’s momentum as he flushed the ball through the hoop…

“I mean, he’s the type of teammate that you want to play with,” said Milton of Simmons. “He’s unselfish, he guards, he runs, he just does whatever he can to help the team win. So yeah, luckily he’s here, and we’re making it happen.”

The two former Philadelphia teammates — and Day’Ron Sharpe — each finished with a plus-minus of 20 or better. Brooklyn dominated all those minutes, and that stayed true for the game’s most pivotal stretch.

Brooklyn went on a 14-2 run to send the Pacers packing after that 80-80 tie, and Fernández says he didn’t have to even think about what group to close the game with: “I was not really debating. Because once those guys made the run, their teammates were the ones saying, ‘we’re not subbing them, they’re doing great, they’re making a run. Just stay with them.’”

And Fernández did, albeit Sharpe made an early exit in his second game back to preserve his legs.

Cam Johnson may have led the team with 26 points on 7-of-13 from deep, but even he didn’t mind sitting for the bulk of the fourth quarter, watching his teammates make the game-sealing run: “It was awesome. Absolutely, just let them roll. It wasn’t, like, accidental, the manner in which they were doing it. They were playing hard, playing hard and making plays, not being shy, not backing down from the moment. And they earned that.”

The collective decision-making was on point, unlike the third quarter, but most importantly, the bench mob’s energy and effort was too much for Indiana. Trendon Watford diving all over the floor and Milton pushing the pace exemplified their fourth-quarter run…

Said Milton: “Ben was doing a really good job of, during the timeout, saying, ‘We gotta run, we gotta run, we gotta run.’ And I feel like that’s been a thing with our team is, second half, sometimes we slow down and our pace slows down. But we know we’re getting good shots when we’re getting rebounds and we’re running.”

Brooklyn walked into their locker room hooting and hollering, and while some fans may bemoan yet another early-season, ping-pong-ball deflating win, the team’s energy is contagious.

Said Fernández: “The coolest thing was, you know, you see your teammates — we have the starters on the bench. Dennis and them all told me ‘just let them roll, because they’re in a good place.’ So that tells you that these guys are selfless, that they care about each other and they want their teammates … to win as a group. Good for them. I’m proud of them.”

However relevant you think the long-term goals of the franchise are, Nets fans should be proud of this team. They fight to play through injuries, they fight to play together, and they fight for wins. Evidenced by yet another gutsy-if-ugly win on Wednesday night, that’s no empty platitude for these Brooklyn Nets.

“From our perspective, we’ve all heard the noise,” explained Johnson. “You know, our preseason expectations, we get constantly reminded of them, especially when you’re going through the media days and stuff. So every win to us is just hard fought and appreciated across the board. And that’s the culture we’re trying to create and build.”

Final Score: Brooklyn Nets 99, Indiana Pacers 90

Injury report

Yet again, Wednesday’s injury report was another laundry list of names, though Cam Johnson and Ben Simmons returned one-game absences.

Still, Noah Clowney remained out with his left ankle sprain, as did Bojan Bogdanović, recovering from offseason foot surgery. In addition, Jordi Fernández told the media that Brooklyn would provide an update on Ziaire Williams (left knee sprain) sometime after Sunday’s home game.

Two more detailed updates arrived, first on Dorian Finney-Smith, who has now missed six-of-seven games with, you guessed it, an ankle sprain.

“He’s very close,” said Brooklyn’s head coach. “And what we want for him, is that when he is ready to come back and be on the court, it’s to do it 200%, because the reality is he doesn’t have another way to play … I’ve got to save him from him at times, and then when he is healthy, he’s always going to have that mindset, which is a great example for everybody else.”

Lastly, Cam Thomas spoke to the media for the first time since suffering a left hamstring strain that is set to shelve him for around two more weeks. Thomas confirmed to reporters that he suffered the injury during Brooklyn’s contest in Golden State: “Yeah, it happened during the game. Just did a routine, one of my step backs in the second half. It didn’t feel right after I made the shot. From that point on, it just didn’t feel right. Tried to play through it a little bit, but I just knew I couldn’t really be the best version of myself.”

Thomas says it’s the first serious hamstring injury he’s suffered in his life, and was reluctant to share too many details about his recovery process, though affirmed that he is “doing whatever the performance team” asks him to.

And while this isn’t germane to the injury report, Thomas was also asked about his exclusion from ESPN’s top 25 under 25 list, to which he replied, “if anybody’s watching, they know.”

Erik Slater of ClutchPoints posted Thomas’ full answer here…

Milestone Watch

• Ben Simmons led the team in rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks on Wednesday night, but his three blocks represent a season-high and the most he’s had in a game in over two years.
• The three players with a plus-minus of at least 20? That’s the first time Brooklyn’s accomplished that this season.
• Cam Johnson’s 26 points without a two-point make was the most ever in team history, besting Joe Harris’ 24. Paul Pierce and Mirza Teletović each had 22 points without a two.
• Indiana had just 35 points at halftime, the fewest Brooklyn has allowed after two dozen minutes this season.

SLAM Night at Barclays Center

Wednesday’s game was a themed night at the ‘Clays, as Brooklyn celebrated the iconic basketball magazine SLAM, now in its 30th year of existence.

As part of the festivities, SLAM set up large poster boards of their most iconic Nets-related covers around the concourse, and Jordi Fernández spoke at length about the cover he had on his pregame shirt, which featured Dražen Petrović: “You guys know they called him the Mozart of basketball in his home country, so I like to represent. I grew up watching him.”

Our own Collin Helwig wrote a brief story on SLAM night, as well as Fernández’s full, touching comments on the Brooklyn Nets and basketball legend. Read it here.

Next Up

Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images

Finally, a break in the schedule with three whole days between games. But then, another serious challenge, as the red-hot Bucks come to town for a Sunday matinee. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET.

• Boxscore: Brooklyn Nets 99, Indiana Pacers – NBA
• Game Highlights: Brooklyn Nets 99, Indiana Pacers 90 (Video) – NBA
• Ben Simmons talks finishing strong against Pacers (Video) – Meghan Triplett – YES Network
• Frank Isola breaks down Nets’ win over Pacers (Video) – Frank Isola & Chris Shearn – YES Network
• Jordi Fernández reacts to 99-90 win over Pacers (Video) – YES Network
• Cam Johnson discusses his performance against Indiana (Video) – YES Network
• Shake Milton breaks down Nets’ first half vs. Pacers (Video) – Meghan Triplett – YES Network
• Cam Johnson scores 26 points, Nets beat the Pacers 99-90 to end a 3-game losing streak – AP
• Cameron Johnson scores 26 points as Nets top Pacers – Larry Fleisher – Reuters
• Stars’ return, defense spark Nets in impressive win over Pacers to snap three-game skid – Brian Lewis – New York Post
• Nets outlast Pacers 99-90 to snap three-game skid – C.J. Holmes – New York Daily News
• Nets Notebook: Cam Thomas talks hamstring injury; Jordi Fernandez reflects on Dražen Petrović’s legacy and more ($) – C.J. Holmes – New York Daily News
• Nets’ Cam Thomas has blunt reaction to being left off ESPN’s Top 25 NBA players under 25 – Erik Slater – Clutch Points