Pacers run past injury-depleted Nets

Brooklyn battles but falls short vs. Indiana

January 7, 2025 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Benedict Mathurin and the Pacers drove past Ziaire Williams the Nets at Downtown's Barclays Center on Monday night. AP Photo by Frank Franklin II

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The walking-wounded Nets didn’t get a scolding from fiery first-year coach Jordi Fernández following their latest loss Monday night.

Instead, they received praise and encouragement.

Despite being down its top-two scorers, along with an assortment of other injury absences, Brooklyn hung tough for the better part of four quarters before suffering a 113-99 loss to the Indiana Pacers in front of 16,088 paying customers at Downtown’s Barclays Center.

“That third quarter was great because we end up with nine straight stops to finish and that’s how you make runs. We won that quarter and gave ourselves a chance,” noted Fernández following his team’s fifth loss in six games.

“I was very proud of them and the way we played all the way through. You can easily just let it go,” he added.

It appeared the Nets (13-23) wouldn’t bother to hang on after the Pacers (19-18) opened a 65-41 cushion on

Bennedict Mathurin’s free throw two minutes after intermission.

Noah Clowney hit a 3-pointer and the Nets buckled down on defense, closing within 78-70 on Tosan Evbuomwan’s layup with 25 ticks left in the third quarter.

“That’s what I want our team to do, just keep fighting until the end,” said Fernández, who has watched his team drop 13 of 17 contests since an inspiring 9-10 start had Brooklyn fans hoping for a return to the playoffs.

Indiana is more concerned with its own postseason status and proved it the rest of the way.

The Pacers answered the Nets’ charge by going on a 17-4 burst that ended any hopes of Brooklyn’ second win in three games.

Obi Topping threw down a thunderous dunk and sank a 25-footer off a feed from Tyler Haliburton to cap the decisive run as Indiana won its third in a row and climbed above .500 for the first time since Opening Night.

Nets coach Jordi Fernández couldn’t do much to stop the Pacers Monday, but he did stick up for his short-handed team’s effort. AP Photo by Frank Franklin II

Haliburton scored 23 points and handed out eight assists and Mathurin added 20 points for the Pacers, who avenged a 99-90 loss here on Dec. 4.

Playing without Cam Thomas (hamstring) and Cam Johnson (ankle), both of whom also missed Saturday’s 123-94 loss to Philadelphia, Brooklyn was desperate to find offensive potency and leadership.

The Nets also took the hardwood sans D’Angelo Russell (shin), guard Ben Simmons (calf/back) and veteran power forward Trendon Watford (hamstring).

That left Fernández to defend his latest lineup shuffle and rotation, which refused to go away against an opponent with a veteran corps that reached the Eastern Conference finals last year.

“I love my players. I’m never gonna say the other players are better than my players,” Fernández retorted when asked whether the Pacers had too much firepower for the injury-depleted Nets.

“With the new groups, I have to help them better at getting better shots. … I’m not that worried,” he added. “Obviously, great job by the Pacers, but I’m just gonna focus on my guys for sure.”

“His guys” placed five scorers in double figures, including a team-high 16 points off the bench from Day’Ron Sharpe.

Sharpe also pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds, handed out five assists and didn’t commit a single turnover in 22 minutes.

“That’s a good step for him. Also, him doing that makes us better. I’m very happy for him,” Fernández said of his instant energizer.

Tyrese Martin scored 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting, Clowney added 14 and Keon Johnson and Ziaire Williams finished with 12 and 10, respectively, for Brooklyn, which slipped a season-worst 10 games below .500 and dropped four games behind the 76ers for the final play-in tournament spot.

While he spent most of the early part of this slide out of contention asking his players for more effort, Fernández is putting the onus on himself to get the most of what he’s left with on a roster that has already lost Dennis Schröder and Dorian Finney-Smith to trades.

“I gotta find a way to help them. Simplify things,” he insisted. “”I am not concerned with whose playing. I’m just concerned with how hard we play.

“Now we can obviously watch film and move on to the next one.”

The Nets will close this three-game homestand against Detroit here on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

Reece Beekman scored a career-best nine points off the bench, but he and the Nets fell to Indiana Monday in Downtown Brooklyn. AP Photo by Frank Franklin II

NOTHING BUT NET: Missing the two Cams, who combine to average over 44 points per game this season, left the Nets looking to find an offensive rhythm early in Monday’s game. Brooklyn only managed 39 first-half points — its lowest pre-intermission output of the year — and finished shooting 42% overall, including 30% from 3-point range. Fernández admitted that he has to find solutions for the offense, if neither Thomas or Johnson returns soon. “Use whatever sets or actions we can run to our strengths,” he revealed. “Find the kind of shots that we’ve taught and the ones that have worked for us. It’s not on the players, it’s on me and the coaches.” … Brooklyn was strong of the boards against Indiana, outrebounding the Pacers 51-35. The Nets also grabbed 20 offensive caroms, five of which fell in Sharpe’s hands. … After hosting the Pistons, the Nets will embark a season-high six-game West Coast swing, beginning Friday night in Denver.