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Less than 24 hours after the Nets celebrated a nail-biting victory against the Knicks, they were back at it on the road against the Indiana Pacers. They were just 4-11 in second game of back-to-backs last year and they continued the trend in 2018 with a 132-112 loss to the Indiana Pacers, Saturday night.
They haven’t won a game in Indiana since March of 2015.
The Nets never really had it. They had no answers for Victor Oladipo and Co. as the Pacers put up 67 in the first half. The poor defense trickled into the second half as the Pacers built a 14-point lead in the third quarter. Oladipo led the attack with 25 points, seven rebounds, three assists and four steals.
Despite his dominance, the Nets cut it to seven briefly in the fourth, but back-to-back three’s from Doug McDermott and Bojan Bogdanovic gave the Pacers a 105-92 lead with less than 10 minutes remaining.
Brooklyn’s legs looked fatigued, the team depleted by injury. And so, hopes of winning this game failed as they couldn’t muster enough offense —or defense— to make a comeback. To make matters worse, Rodions Kurucs exited the game early in the fourth with a sprained left ankle.
He became the first Nets rookie not selected in the first round of the draft to score in double figures in two of the first three games of a season since Jamie Waller in 1987-88, finishing with 12 points and six rebounds on Saturday.
After the game both Kurucs and Kenny Atkinson downplayed the injury with the Nets coach calling it a “little sprain.” Kurucs said post game that it felt fine.
For Brooklyn, Caris LeVert led with 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting, followed by Joe Harris who had 19 points on a perfect 5-of-5 from three. Both Dzanan Musa and Theo Pinson made their NBA debuts and scored, while Kenneth Faried made his Nets’ debut.
Indiana shot 67 percent from three, 56 percent overall and had nine players in double figures. The Nets shot 43 percent from three but committed 20 turnovers to Indiana’s 10. Turnovers have especially been a problem of late.
The Nets played without Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Treveon Graham, Shabazz Napier, DeMarre Carroll and Alan Williams. We now wait for word on the severity of Kurucs’ injury.
WORD OF MOUTH MATTERS...
Veteran Jared Dudley, who’s currently on his sixth NBA team, had high praise for the Brooklyn Nets organization as per usual. Though, this was a little different.
Top facilities, Can live in the city, First class Organization, Great Training staff ♂️... I just don’t say that about any team I play on https://t.co/517ALKb3gP
— Jared Dudley (@JaredDudley619) October 20, 2018
TRACKING DINWIDDIE’S SHOES
Spencer Dinwiddie is doing this thing with his shoe brand where he promotes positive messages with different custom shoes every game. On Friday against the Knicks, he showed his appreciation for the media.
In game 3, he wore shoes to celebrate Cheryl Miller.
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For a different perspective, head on over to our sister site, IndyCornrows
The Nets will face off against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday at 7:00 PM.
- Game Report: Indiana Pacers 132, Brooklyn Nets 112 (Box Score) - NBA.com
- Game Recap: Indiana Pacers 132, Brooklyn Nets 112 (Video) - NBA.com
- Nets fall to Pacers, 132-112 (Video) - Ryan Ruocco & Jim Spanarkel - YES Network
- Atkinson on letdown in Indiana (Video) - Michael Grady - YES Network
- Wear Brooklyn At? (Video) - YES Network
- Kurucs on his ankle injury (Video) - YES Network
- Harris on team execution in loss (Video) - YES Network
- LeVert on getting team healthy (Video) - YES Network
- Dinwiddie discusses road defeat (Video) - YES Network
- Oladipo scores 25 points to lead Pacers past Nets 132-112 - Jim Johnson - AP
- First-half meltdown proves Nets have a long way to go - Brian Lewis - New York Post
- Nets coach: No excuses for poor defensive effort - Brian Lewis - New York Post
- Tired Nets get thumped by Pacers - Barbara Barker - Newsday
- LeVert feeling confident after all the work - Barbara Barker - Newsday
- PACERS 132, NETS 112: CARIS LEVERT, JOE HARRIS LEAD NETS IN LOSS TO INDIANA - Tom Dowd - Brooklyn Nets
- GALLERY: NETS VS. PACERS - Brooklyn Nets
- Pacers clean up mistakes, rebound from lopsided loss to bury Nets - J. Michael - Indianapolis Star
- Game Rewind: Pacers 132, Nets 112 - Indiana Pacers