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Nets fall to Indiana, 132-112, as Rodions Kurucs suffers ‘little sprain’

The Nets are now 1-2.

By Anthony Puccio

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NBA: Brooklyn Nets at Indiana Pacers Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

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.

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.

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