clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Brooklyn Nets play April Fools prank, lose 133-111 to Indiana Pacers

Surely, that display was some sort of prank. Had to be. Right?

By Lucas Kaplan
/ new
Brooklyn Nets v Indiana Pacers Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images

The Brooklyn Nets do not deserve more words than necessary to describe their loss to the Indiana Pacers on Monday night.

The most interesting moment of the first half happened when Trendon Watford fouled Myles Turner on a dunk attempt. Turner emerged in serious pain and would leave the game with a ‘sprained right finger,’ but not before swishing the second of his two free-throw attempts left-handed...

The most interesting moment of the second half came courtesy of a flailing Dennis Schröder and a hyper-sensitive Jalen Smith. Schröder drove the lane, Smith fouled him, Brooklyn’s 170-pound guard tried to sell the call, perhaps a bit recklessly, and knocked the big man’s goggles off. The big man, evidently, does not appreciate his goggles being knocked off.

Smith shoved his smaller antagonizer in the back, and while it went no further, he was ejected...

The Nets were down 25 when Indiana’s starting center was joined by his understudy in the locker room, and yet, Smith’s departure did not inspire any confidence that Brooklyn could pull off what would be a miraculous comeback.

It wouldn’t be miraculous purely for the time and score; sure, 25 points is a lot to make up in 18 minutes of game play, but the Nets weren’t even a threat to repeat their performance against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night.

The Lakers that game on a 17-0 run, and even took a 72-46 lead soon after halftime, but while the Nets did have their share of pathetic moments, they were just pathetically incompetent.

Brooklyn cut it to eight in the opening moments of the fourth quarter, prompting LeBron James to crush the whole borough under his thumb with a laughable display of 3-point shooting. It was a story about LeBron’s immortal greatness; the Nets were at least feisty enough to play the foil.

On Monday, the Nets were pathetically indifferent. They were facing the league’s best offense and deadliest transition team on a back-to-back, but to lay down for Indiana after getting off to a slow start the day before was inexcusable. Not even a fake burst of motivation out of the gates, guys?

There is no analysis to provide, other than the Nets didn’t come to play. The Indiana Pacers did not do anything special in transition, they just ran harder than their opponent. Tyrese Haliburton scored 27 points on 9-of-15 shooting while dishing 13 assists, and he didn't make one difficult play.

Jalen Smith was up to 17 and 10, by the way, in his 16 minutes before getting ejected. There’s no need to investigate the Nets for intentionally helping Pacers bettors hit every over in the book, this scheme would’ve been too obvious even for Jontay Porter.

How on Earth do teams lose by more than 30? The Nets have lost a game by 50 this very season, and yet, this loss to the Pacers looked as ugly and effortless as any NBA team has played this season.

Actually, Brooklyn’s loss in Indy might have been the perfect response to the mouth-breathing question that gets asked this time of year: Could a great college team give the worst NBA team a challenge?

You know how unfathomably good NBA players are? Not only can they casually make free-throws with their off-hand in a real game, but a whole team of them can play like they’re sneaking glances at their phones to keep up with Iowa-LSU during live action, and only lose by 22 points. That’s how bad it was.

And thank goodness for that Iowa-LSU contest, by the way, for preventing more people from tuning into this Nets-Pacers game.

The circumstances were not in Brooklyn’s favor. Kevin Ollie’s squad didn’t have Cam Johnson (toe) and Dennis Smith Jr. (hip) available, as they did on Sunday. They were traveling on a back-to-back, playing a team that pushes the ball at every turn.

But come on. You don’t even have to win to provide a pleasant viewing experience, fans in 2024 know that there are indeed scheduled losses! Brooklyn is even playing the rookies decent minutes now, and that’s before we get to the ever-intriguing Trendon Watford, who poured in 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting, in fairness to him...

I feel like the numbers are lying to me.

The Nets shot 47.1% from the field, 38.5% from three, and just 67.9% from the line but took 28 attempts. They even had another 20-point scorer in Cam Thomas, who finished with 22. Mikal Bridges scored 19 with six assists and no turnovers.

Brooklyn coughed it up 15 times to Indiana’s nine, but even that isn’t totally disastrous. Their worst statistical indicators were getting outscored 23-to-6 in transition, and 70-to-52 in the paint, but even that undersells that uncompetitiveness of Monday's action.

Maybe it was just the Pacers doing the bare minimum to hold the lead around 20 for the game’s final 30 minutes, or maybe covering the 2023-’24 Nets turned me into an unrepentant cynic, bu—

Wait. The date ... It’s April Fools.

Okay, let’s just write that off as an April Fools’ prank by the Nets on the viewers, I guess. Good one?

Final Score: Indiana Pacers 133, Brooklyn Nets 111

Tragic number falls to one

With the Atlanta Hawks securing a victory on Monday night, Brooklyn’s Play-In hopes have been backed into their final corner. Their ‘tragic’ number to miss out on the East’s 10-seed is just one, meaning a single Hawks win or Nets loss the rest of the way will knock Brooklyn out of post-season contention.

Tragic indeed.

Next Up

Indiana Pacers v Golden State Warriors Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images

Again? At least the home-and-home series is a chance at revenge for the Brooklyn Nets. Tip-off from the Barclays Center is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday night.

More From NetsDaily

Loading comments...