Apparently, the Nets know where to go when they need their first win.<\/p>\n
Nearly a year after ending a 0-7 start at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Brooklyn returned Sunday and beat the Indiana Pacers 98-90, stopping another season-opening skid at five.<\/p>\n
The building was familiar. The response to a difficult night was something the Nets needed to see more often.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a pretty win, but it\u2019s a win regardless. We got that zero out of that column, so we\u2019re really happy about that,\u201d Michael Porter Jr. said.<\/p>\n
Brooklyn shot just 41.1% and committed 18 turnovers, but the missed shots didn\u2019t pull the team apart. Nolan Traor\u00e9 found his jumper after halftime, Julius Randle added timely baskets and passes, and Day\u2019Ron Sharpe kept working the glass.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d rather take a win like this that you have to grind all the way because that just makes you better,\u201d head coach Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez said.<\/p>\n
Porter, who scored 32 points in last season\u2019s breakthrough against Indiana, again led Brooklyn, finishing with 23 points and nine rebounds. Randle added 20 points and six assists, while Traor\u00e9 had 16 points and six assists. Randle and Traor\u00e9 each made four 3-pointers.<\/p>\n
Sharpe had 15 points, 13 rebounds and four assists. The starting center\u2019s work helped Brooklyn withstand its shooting struggles, and the Pacers\u2019 attempts to turn a close game into another uncomfortable finish.<\/p>\n
That had been a problem. After Friday\u2019s loss to Detroit, Fern\u00e1ndez and his veterans described a group that became quieter and less connected when opponents made their runs.<\/p>\n
However, Sunday brought a different response. The Nets won each of the first three quarters, building a lead through a poor shooting half and then finding enough offense to protect it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ball has energy and everybody touched the ball and then there was movement of the ball and movement of bodies,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said.<\/p>\n
Indiana\u2019s depleted roster provided an opportunity Brooklyn needed to take. The Pacers were without Tyrese Haliburton, Ivica Zubac, T.J. McConnell and Obi Toppin. The Nets also played without Egor D\u00ebmin, sidelined by a right leg bone bruise, and Mikel Brown Jr., held out for back injury management.<\/p>\n
Neither offense offered much to admire before halftime. Brooklyn shot 38.5%, Indiana 32.4%. Porter put back a Traor\u00e9 miss just before the buzzer to send the Nets into the break ahead 43-40.<\/p>\n
Traor\u00e9 had two points on 1-for-6 shooting. Sharpe had three. Both would give Brooklyn considerably more after halftime.<\/p>\n
Porter started the third-quarter scoring with a four-point play. Moments later, Sharpe collected a Porter miss and found Traor\u00e9 for a 3-pointer. After a Randle steal, the second-year guard added a floater, completing a 9-0 run that stretched Brooklyn\u2019s lead to 52-40.<\/p>\n
Traor\u00e9 scored eight points in the third and 14 after halftime, making all four of his threes in the second half. The last two came when Brooklyn needed answers to Indiana\u2019s perimeter shooting.<\/p>\n
First, though, the Nets had to stop a run that trimmed their advantage to three.<\/p>\n
Andrew Nembhard\u2019s three made it 75-72 with 9:29 left. Fern\u00e1ndez called timeout, and Randle and Sharpe returned to the floor. On Brooklyn\u2019s next trip, Sharpe threw a dime and Randle buried a 25-footer.<\/p>\n
Sharpe then grabbed two defensive rebounds and finished a cutting dunk. A pass to Porter for a layup followed. The center was helping Brooklyn rebuild its cushion a play at a time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t win this game without him,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said.<\/p>\n
Sharpe made five of seven shots and collected four offensive rebounds for his 20th career double-double. Moritz Wagner added 14 points and six rebounds, giving Brooklyn\u2019s centers a combined 29 points and 19 boards. The Nets finished with a 14-5 advantage in second-chance points.<\/p>\n
Randle and Traor\u00e9 supplied the late shooting. After a Randle stepback restored a 10-point lead with 4:44 left, Indiana answered with a 3-pointer. Randle found Traor\u00e9 for a triple. The Pacers hit another, and Randle found Traor\u00e9 again.<\/p>\n
Both Traor\u00e9 baskets pushed the lead back to 10. Brooklyn kept making Indiana start its pursuit over.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought Nolan had great moments, especially in that second half,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said.<\/p>\n
Nembhard scored 15 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, and Pascal Siakam finished with 17. Indiana made six of eight 3s in the final period, a late defensive concern Fern\u00e1ndez acknowledged. But the Nets made all 16 of their second-half free throws, while the Pacers missed nine foul shots overall.<\/p>\n
The Nets improved to 1-5, with little time to enjoy the change in the standings. Monday brings the Knicks at Madison Square Garden and another test of whether Sunday\u2019s habits can hold.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, there\u2019s not a lot of celebration,\u201d Fern\u00e1ndez said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Apparently, the Nets know where to go when they need their first win. Nearly a year after ending…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,17661,4475,9,24,7934,63,18755],"class_list":["post-390688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-julius-randle","tag-nets","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nolan-traore","tag-nyc","tag-pacers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}