I arrived at the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush a bit earlier than usual this afternoon. With 15 minutes to spare before doors opened up, I sat down outside Fini Pizza and inhaled a pepperoni slice. I felt a clam breeze as the sun shined down on me through the oculus. I heard birds chirping even as The Strokes hummed through my ear buds.

And for a brief moment, I forgot all about “tanking” despite being a mere 10 feet from its epicenter this week.

Like we did on Sunday and Tuesday, we’ll call tonight’s game what it was. Jordi Fernández is right each time he insists that all minutes at the NBA level matter, but the only concrete, tangible thing to be gained tonight were better odds to land a top pick in the upcoming draft lottery. The Nets came into tonight with only a half game cushion between them and the threshold for top odds at the number one overall pick this summer. The visiting Indiana Pacers sat two games ahead.

Both teams knew what was at stake, despite whatever rhetoric they’ve used to describe their rotations over the past few weeks.

This time, Brooklyn sat Nolan Traoré (rest), Josh Minott (left ankle soreness), Terance Mann (right patella tendinosis), Noah Clowney (left ankle injury management), Ziaire Williams (left foot tenosynovitis/bursitis), and Nic Claxton. They joined the expected crew of Danny Wolf (ankle), Michael Porter Jr. (hamstring), Day’Ron Sharpe (thumb), and Dëmin (foot), leaving Brooklyn with eight inactives.

The Pacers sat Pascal Siakam, Aaron Nesmith , Andrew Nembhard, T.J. McConnell, Ivica Zubac, Johnny Furphy, Kobe Brown, Ben Sheppard, and of course, Tyrese Haliburton.

Yeah, they even sat their head coach, in a sense. Rick Carlisle missed tonight’s game and will miss the next to attend a school event for his daughter.

But tonight was also the home finale, and Fan Appreciation Night. For as much flack as this Brooklyn crowd gets for the hospitality it extends to visiting teams, seated fans for teams like this, at this point, in this kind of a season, are difficult to come by. Even if they were tourists simply looking to experience our city’s game at a discount, casuals hoping to score a Steph Curry or Luka Doncic autograph, or true team supporters, they were here, and deserve a nod for that.

“Yeah, I mean the loyalty and the support has been amazing, especially going into a season that we didn’t win a lot of games, but all our guys worked and played hard, got better, and to feel the support for what we’re trying to do and the plan we have is pretty special,” Fernández said pregame. “So, I appreciate them showing up, and the way we play is because we feel that support.”

Indeed, you’d like to see Brooklyn give them a show even with the understudies taking center stage.

If only it were that simple.

The Nets dipped deeper into their organizational rotation tonight than they have all season. Even though Jalen Wilson and Drake Powell have been part of the regular rotation at times this year, they came off the bench. Ben Saraf started alongside Tyson Etienne, Malachi Smith, E.J. Liddell, and Tre Scott. The Pacers took a similar approach, bringing Obi Toppin and Jay Huff off the bench.

Brooklyn lost the first quarter 31-14, shooting just 5-21 from the field. The Nets once more played without a true center tonight, and it showed. Brooklyn lost on the glass 21-12 in the opening frame, where Indiana also outscored them in the paint 20-6. Another quarter of play only ballooned those ratios. The Pacers went into the break up 65-37, up 46-20 in the paint, and 38-19 on the boards.

At that point, Obi Toppin was our only scorer with double digit points, putting up 14 on 5-7 shooting. Neither Chaney Johnson nor Ochai Agbaji, the only guys who might’ve had a chance to stop the bleeding inside, played any minutes this evening.

Nevertheless. Brooklyn opened up the third with 12-0 start in paint scoring. Rather than getting some taller reinforcements, the Nets simply started driving more often on an Indiana defense that either stopped caring in the second half or Brooklyn simply didn’t challenge enough in the first.

“He does a great job of getting into the paint with the ball, and that’s very important, because he draws a lot of attention” Fernández said of Saraf. “Now, he’s getting comfortable with making better decisions, whether it’s to score or to find shooters. He ended up with six assists and two turnovers, which is elite, and that’s a night that we didn’t make any shots. Just imagine if we make a couple.”

Also, Toppin and Huff weren’t in the game for that stretch, which saw the Nets slightly cut into the lead with an extended 18-11 run. Tank commanders might’ve started sweating had Toppin and Huff not come back in, but they did around halfway through the third, and once again started BBQ-chickening Brooklyn inside. The Pacers still ended up winning the period and put their lead back at 26 entering the fourth. After Brooklyn’s 12-0 start to the third in paint scoring, Indiana only lost the period there by 24-20 margin.

The Nets couldn’t conjure up another fake comeback after that. There are few things more disheartening for a team to go through than a possession where you drive, force a collapse, put the defense in a blender, kick for an open three, and then clank it off the side iron, and the Nets had about four of those in the final period’s first five minutes. They ended up posting .385/.211 splits for the game, which won’t get it done, even against a fellow basement dweller.

“I thought the effort and the purpose was there,” Fernández said. “We took the right shots. They just didn’t go in.”

So, both teams quietly strolled to the finish line down the stretch of the fourth. Amidst it all, E.J. Liddell waltzed into a career night where he led the Nets with 26 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 10-16 from the field. Ben Saraf followed with a 19/6/5 game. Tyson Etienne added 14 points, four assists, and four rebounds while shooting 3-7 from deep in the loss.

Once more, even if the on-court Nets weren’t after that, it’s what they should’ve been, with respect to the franchise’s long term outlook.

And in terms of leaving a better, final impression on the fans? It’s not like we don’t all have TVs and there aren’t two more games left.

Final: Indiana Pacers 123, Brooklyn Nets 94

As part of YES Network’s season-ending interviews with players, coaches and staff, Sean Marks sat down for a brief interview on the upcoming Draft Lottery, which is a month from Friday. The Nets GM laid out the importance of the lottery pick…

Marks made an interesting comment when talking about this year’s team and its youth. He noted that not only was the 2025-26 roster the youngest in the NBA this year. They were also the youngest NBA team in 20 years. He noted that next year’s squad will also be young, but not as young at this one.

E.J. Liddell had his first career double-double tonight against Indiana with 26 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. He has scored 15+ points in three straight games from 4/5-9 after his previous career best was 10 points on 3/14/26 at PHI.Liddell also became the first Net with 25+ PTS and 10+ REB in an NBA game after playing in the G League that season. It was his third straight game with a career high in points after logging 15 vs WAS (4/5) and 21 vs MIL (4/7).

Nic Claxton gave his exit interview for the season pregame tonight. He came out with his right pinky finger in splint. He mentioned that he doesn’t expect (or want) to have surgery on it.

“No, I don’t think so,” he said when asked if he’d go under the knife. “Give it some time to rest. I think it’ll heal up. Not trying to have any procedures.”

Claxton also said that he recently had an MRI on the finger and intends to take “proper precautions.” We’ll have more on his exit interview later on.

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The Nets will complete their final back-to-back of the season, flying to Milwaukee for a penultimate game vs the Bucks. Like on Tuesday, expect the household names to sit this one out. It’ll tipoff at 8:00 p.m.