The Brooklyn Nets wanted to make an impression on their fans heading into the home opener.
Staging a furious, gritty, leave-it-all-out-there, fourth-quarter comeback is one way to do it.
The Nets beat the Indiana Pacers 103-94 on Friday night, erasing a 10-point deficit late in the third, doubling the Pacers 31-15 in the fourth and making highlight-reel plays in the process.
“Our bodies definitely feel it, but we played with our heart tonight,” said Jeremy Lin. “You saw that from a lot of guys and a lot of guys made big-timeplays.”
Lin had a superb game, with 21 points, nine assists and nine rebounds, but Sean Kilpatrick stole the show in the fourth quarter. Kilpatrick scored 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, coming up with two layups and a steal on Monta Ellis in a 93-second span to get the Nets out from an 81-78 deficit and into an 85-85 tie. Shortly after, the toned up Yonkers native came up even more clutch, knocking down back-to-back three-pointers, capping a 9-0 run and giving the Nets a 94-85 lead with 4:02 to play.
“A lot of people thought we weren’t going to be a scrappy team or come out and play hard and we showed a lot,” Kilpatrick, who was a perfect 4-of-4 from deep, said. “That’s just something we have to continue to keep doing.”
Defensively, the Nets got stops when they needed them in the fourth, holding the Pacers to 15 points. Indiana went 0-of-9 from the field to start the fourth and by the time Justin Hamilton stood up Myles Turner with the Nets up 97-89 and 2:16 on the clock, the court was firmly tilted in Brooklyn’s favor.
“We just defended a lot better and I think we rebounded,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said, noting that the Nets only gave up one offensive board in the fourth quarter.
As much as the Nets made a statement to the fans at Barclays Center – which was roaring all throughout the fourth quarter – they pushed themselves until the final buzzer with their fourth-quarter defense.
“We were completely locked in the fourth quarter in a way I’ve never seen us,” Lin said. “Now we know what we’re capable of. We’re not going to sustain that 100 percent of the time, that’s not realistic, it’s basketball, but at least we see what we’re capable of and that’s always good, especially as a young team.”
WORKING IN THE PAINT:
Brook Lopez had a game-high 25 points on Friday, as the big man was a force in the paint, scoring nearly all of his 25 on black-colored court.
“He’s got to work to get position and work to get the ball in flow and then our players did a good job of getting him the ball in spots where he’s comfortable,” Atkinson said. One of those players was Lin, who dished three assists to Lopez in the paint on Friday.
Lopez wasn’t the only Net to work the paint, as Trevor Booker grinded his way inside to the tune of 10 points and a team-high 11 boards (2OR, 9DR). Overall the Nets outscored the Pacers 46-44 in the paint and outrebounded them 52-49. The shift in strategy benefitted the Nets, who didn’t have their three-ball working early. They shot 2-of-11 from deep in the first quarter, falling behind 27-20 before rallying in the second quarter, working in the paint to take a 52-48 lead at halftime.
PACERS NOTES:
Paul George had a team-high 22 points for Indiana, while Thaddeus Young had 19 points in his return to Brooklyn. Jeff Teague had a team-high seven assists, Myles Turner had 11 rebounds and CJ Miles scored 15 points off the bench.
NEXT GAME:
The Nets travel to Milwaukee to play the Bucks on Saturday night. Tipoff is at 8 p.m. ET.