November 2, 2026 at 4:02 AM UTC

Postgame Report

Nets Finally Get One, Beating Short-Handed Pacers 98-90

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Brooklyn dodged an 0-6 start behind Michael Porter Jr., Julius Randle and a double-double from Day'Ron Sharpe, leaving Indiana at 2-5.

INDIANAPOLIS — The Nets arrived at Gainbridge Fieldhouse 0-5 and left with their first win, 98-90 over the Pacers on Sunday afternoon. Brooklyn had spent the week talking about avoiding an 0-6 start. It got there with Michael Porter Jr. scoring 23 and grabbing nine rebounds, Julius Randle adding 20 points and six assists over a team-high 37 minutes, and Nolan Traore running the offense for 16 points and six assists.

Day'Ron Sharpe supplied the interior work, finishing with 15 points and 13 rebounds in 26 minutes, the only double-double of the afternoon. Moritz Wagner gave the bench 14 points in 21 minutes. Chaney Johnson played 31 minutes and scored two, so the offense came from elsewhere. Brooklyn did it without guards Egor Demin and Mikel Brown Jr., both sidelined, which left Traore with more of the ball-handling.

For Indiana, the loss is a fourth straight and drops it to 2-5. A lopsided defeat at Miami was already part of that slide, and this one came at home, where the Pacers were 3.5-point favorites. Andrew Nembhard led them with 23 points and Pascal Siakam had 17, but Aaron Nesmith and Kelly Oubre Jr. each stopped at 11. Indiana was without Tyrese Haliburton, out with a hamstring injury, and four other rotation players. Obi Toppin, listed as questionable, did not play. That left Quenton Jackson, Jarace Walker and Larry Nance Jr. in larger roles than the Pacers would have planned.

The score is a long way from the last meeting, a week earlier in Brooklyn, when Indiana won 136-109 and looked like the team with its season in order. Eight points is not a blowout, but it was enough for a Nets team that needed to see a result go its way. The Pacers, who came in with a contender's expectations, are left to explain a four-game losing streak.

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