The Pacers’ injury list has stripped away most of their offensive identity, and Sunday’s 98-90 loss to the previously winless Nets at Gainbridge Fieldhouse showed exactly how thin the margin has become.
Indiana dropped its fourth straight game and fifth in its last six, falling to 2-5 while Brooklyn picked up its first win to move to 1-5. The Pacers were held to 40.0% shooting overall and went 13 of 35 from 3-point range, but the damage was done long before the final buzzer. They opened with just 19 points in the first quarter and managed only 40 in the first half, shooting 12 of 37 from the field and 4 of 20 from deep before halftime.
Andrew Nembhard led Indiana with 23 points, and Pascal Siakam added 17. On the other side, Michael Porter Jr. scored 23 for the Nets, Julius Randle added 20, and Day'Ron Sharpe turned in a 15-point, 13-rebound effort.
Without Tyrese Haliburton, T.J. McConnell, Obi Toppin and Ivica Zubac, the Pacers simply don’t have the same kind of offensive structure they once did.
Three years ago, in the 2023-24 season, they had the highest-scoring offense in the NBA and the sixth-highest scoring offense in league history. Right now, with those four out and depth wings Ben Sheppard and Johnny Furphy also sidelined for longer-term reasons because of major surgery, Indiana is trying to patch together something workable on the fly.
That has left Nembhard, Quenton Jackson and Siakam as the main sources of creation. The problem is that the supporting cast has been too inconsistent to carry the load when the shots aren’t falling.
On Sunday, Siakam had 13 points by halftime while Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith combined to go 1 of 11 from the floor, including 0 of 8 from 3-point range. Siakam had five field goals at the break; nobody else had more than two.
Indiana did look better after halftime, but Brooklyn answered enough to stay ahead and close it out. The Pacers also had trouble finishing at the rim, making just 13 of their 27 attempts in the paint.
Porter and Randle gave the Nets the kind of shot-making Indiana couldn’t match. Porter went 7 of 16 from the field and 3 of 10 from 3-point range, while also adding nine rebounds and three assists. Randle shot 5 of 15, hit 4 of 9 from beyond the arc, and finished with five rebounds and six assists.
Brooklyn got even more from Sharpe and Nolan Traore. Sharpe has been a problem for the Pacers on the glass for years, and he was again on Sunday, with four offensive rebounds helping the Nets win the second-chance points battle 14-5.
Brooklyn finished with a 43-37 edge on the boards. Traore added 16 points and hit 4 of 8 from 3-point range, giving the Nets another important scoring option.
In Other News...
Pacers Got Caught In A Viral Julius Randle Moment
The Pacers were on the wrong end of Brooklyns first win of the season, and the game carried a little extra edge when Julius Randle got tangled up in a rare on-court confrontation after a hard foul. The moment quickly traveled beyond the box score once a hot mic picked up Randle firing back with a warning, turning a routine regular-season game into one of those clips that keeps circulating long after the final buzzer.
Randle still finished the night with 20 points, five rebounds and six assists, a reminder that the flashpoint did not really slow him down. His postgame attention also shifted toward what comes next, with a matchup against his former team, the New York Knicks, looming on the schedule and adding another layer to a week that already had plenty of conversation around it. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Injury-Riddled Matchup Just Got Another Twist From Brooklyn
The injury list around this Pacers-Nets matchup keeps growing, and Brooklyn added another wrinkle by ruling out rookie point guard Mikel Brown Jr. for the game against Indiana. Brown is being held out because of back injury management and minutes restrictions, a decision that fits the cautious approach the Nets have taken with a roster already thinned by absences.
Brooklyn will also be without Egor Demin and Ben Saraf, which could push veteran Terance Mann into a larger role when the game tips. Indiana, meanwhile, is dealing with its own hit to availability, with Tyrese Haliburton and Ivica Zubac among the players sidelined, leaving both teams to sort through rotations under less-than-ideal circumstances. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Suddenly Have A Backcourt Problem They May Need To Address
Tyrese Haliburtons hamstring injury has turned a routine stretch of the season into a real test for Indianas backcourt depth. With the Pacers expecting to be without their All-Star guard for about two weeks, the immediate question is how they keep the offense organized and the tempo where it needs to be while one of the leagues most important playmakers is sidelined.
Bruce Brown, Seth Curry and Kevin Porter Jr. are among the free-agent names that could make sense if Indiana decides it needs outside help, though nothing has been decided. For a team built around pace, spacing and Haliburtons ability to make everyone around him better, even a short absence can force a search for answers, and the Pacers may have to weigh whether a temporary fix is worth making a move. [Read more 🡒]