This time the Nets didn’t collapse down the stretch.
It was a frenetic fourth-quarter rally that fell simply brief, 108-103 earlier than a sellout crowd of 17,274 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
After having blown a five-point lead within the ultimate minute of Thursday’s loss at these identical Pacers, this time the script was flipped. It simply had the same ending: a loss.
The Nets trailed by 20 early within the ultimate interval, and put collectively a 21-2 blitz to get inside one. However they couldn’t recover from the hump.
“Yeah, I think the fight, all the way through is important,” coach Jordi Fernández stated. “Never give up. Down 20, having the chance to fight for the game, it talks a lot about how those guys, the work they put in every day. Not quitting when you’re down 20, it’s extremely important. We could’ve done things better, but I’m really proud of the way the guys played.”
The Nets fell again behind by 9 with 15.9 seconds left, solely to drag inside two.
They tried to strain the inbounds with 3.1 seconds remaining, however Tyrese Martin was whistled for a foul.
The Pacers iced it on the charity stripe.
The Nets (23-48) are a half-game forward of Philadelphia for fifth within the lottery odds, and 1½ forward of No. 7 Toronto.
The Nets host the Raptors on Wednesday, the center of a three-game homestand sandwiched between the Mavericks on Monday and Clippers on Friday.
Trendon Watford, who was ejected Thursday and noticed the Nets collapse after he left the ground, on Saturday led with a team-high 26 factors, one shy of his profession finest.
Cam Johnson returned from harm with 20 factors. However the Nets have been with out D’Angelo Russell (ankle) and Ziaire Williams (hamstring), the latter after having hit a career-high six 3-pointers on Thursday. The Nets might’ve used that scoring punch on Saturday.
The Nets couldn’t sustain with Indiana’s tempo.
Tyrese Haliburton returned from his sore decrease again, and led Indiana. He flirted with a triple-double, with 16 factors, 12 assists and eight rebounds.
Pascal Siakam had 26, and Myles Turner added 22.
Indiana — which had a 21-8 quick break edge — is 25-11 since Jan. 1, behind solely Boston and Cleveland within the East.
The Nets gave up the primary seven factors of the night time and trailed virtually the entire sport. They by no means led after 11-10 within the first quarter.
And down simply 35-34 after Johnson’s turnaround financial institution shot with 8:07 left within the half, they allowed a lightning-quick 9-0 one-minute blitz.
Haliburton obtained the Pacers out on the break, and located Andrew Nembhard for a 3-pointer and 44-34 lead with 6:41 within the second quarter.
Watford, who was arguing with Haliburton postgame after having to be separated from Turner on Thursday, dunked to get the Nets inside 79-70 with 4 minutes to play within the third. However they conceded the ultimate 11 unanswered to shut the interval.
Siakam — probably getting away with a journey — scored a layup with three seconds left to place the Nets in a 90-70 gap.
Brooklyn mounted a livid 21-2 run over the primary 7 ½ minutes of the fourth.
After Martin’s 3-pointer reduce the deficit to 92-89, he fed Nic Claxton for a breakaway dunk to drag the Nets inside one with 4:30 to play.
However that’s as shut because the Nets would get. Mathurin’s jumper stemmed the tide, and Siakam’s and-one made it 97-92 with 3:28 left.
