Game Rewind: Pacers 121, Nets 100

Saturday, March 16 at 7:00 PM ET at Gainbridge Fieldhouse

After a first half of five lead changes, the Indiana Pacers were able to close out a win in their first matchup this season against the Brooklyn Nets.

Neither team led by more than nine points in the first half, but Indiana’s ability to hold the Nets to just five buckets on 18 attempts in the third quarter allowed the Pacers to set themselves up for a massive fourth quarter, where they’d extend their lead to as many as 27 points.

Indiana managed to hold the Nets to just 43 points in the second half by outscoring Brooklyn, 35-22, in the final frame.

The Blue and Gold were led by Pascal Siakam’s 28 points on 11-of-22 shooting from the floor. In the win, Siakam recorded his 11^th double-double of the season by also pulling down 11 rebounds to go along with four assists and three steals.

Five other Pacers ended the night in double figures. Aaron Nesmith pitched in 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor to go along with four rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals. Players who followed behind were Tyrese Haliburton (14), T.J McConnell (13), Myles Turner (11), and Ben Sheppard (11).

PLAYOFF PICTURE: Track the Latest Standings, Potential Matchups, and More >>

After Brooklyn won the tip and scored its first two points in its first possession, Indiana put itself on the board with a step-back jumper from Siakam a minute into the play. The Nets drilled a 3-pointer twenty seconds later, but the score would remain 5-2 for the next roughly minute and a half until Siakam scored another bucket at 9:05.

Within the first four minutes of play, each team had only made two buckets apiece, with Indiana attempting six and Brooklyn attempting eight.

Nesmith was fouled on a 3-pointer and made all three free throws to give Indiana its first lead of the night, 7-5, at 8:03. While the Pacers went 1-of-4 for the next three minutes, the Nets shot a perfect 4-of-4 to gain a four-point lead, 13-9.

McConnell’s entrance to the game added momentum for the Blue and Gold, as his first touch of the ball was an intercepted Brooklyn pass. After the steal, McConnell ran down the court and lobbed the ball to Obi Toppin in the lane, who found Myles Turner under the basket for a layup to cut the deficit to two points.

After succumbing to a seven-point deficit, the Blue and Gold went on a 7-2 scoring run to bring the score to 20-18 with three minutes remaining in the first frame. Out of a timeout, Brooklyn scored seven uncontested points of its own over the next two minutes to extend its lead to nine points, 27-18.

Following two buckets from McConnell that shrunk the deficit to six points, Sheppard hit a 3-pointer to put Indiana behind by three, 28-25, with 21.6 seconds left in the quarter. Lonnie Walker IV hit a layup to give the Nets a 30-25 lead at the conclusion of the frame.

Nesmith led the first quarter for the Pacers as he recorded eight points on a 2-of-2 shooting clip from the floor and 4-of-4 shooting from the charity stripe.

The teams went basket-for-basket to open the second frame, with Indiana keeping the deficit under seven points. An 8-2 run, started from a Sheppard free throw at 9:42 and capped off at 8:29 with a Jalen Smith layup, helped Indiana cut the deficit to two points, 38-36. Out of a timeout, Brooklyn hit two 3-pointers that pushed them ahead again to an eight-point lead.

Both teams went scoreless from 7:18-5:58 when Andrew Nembhard ended the scoring drought and drilled a 3-pointer. A minute later, Siakam picked up a rebound and put the ball back for a layup to bring Indiana within one point.

Nesmith earned Indiana another lead when he capped off a 6-0 scoring run with a 3-pointer at 4:44 that forced a Brooklyn timeout. This lead would not last long as Day'Ron Sharpe added on a quick layup to tie the game out of the timeout.

After the Nets extended their lead to as much as four points over the next minute and a half, two free throws and a layup from Siakam tied up the game again. Turner gave Indiana the advantage with a made layup at 1:32, and a three-point play from Nesmith put the Blue and Gold ahead by four points with 36.1 seconds remaining to play in the half. Two free throws from Cam Thomas allowed Brooklyn to end the half only trailing by two points.

To open the second half, Indiana extended its lead to four points with a layup from Siakam in its second possession. A small 6-2 scoring run from the Nets put Brooklyn closed the gap and put Brooklyn ahead by one point.

The lead would not last long, however, as Indiana soon found its long-awaited groove.

A 3-pointer from Nembhard put Indiana back in front at 8:01 and jumpstarted an eventual 21-9 scoring run that pushed the Blue and Gold to a lead. At 5:31, Haliburton followed up a made jumper with a steal on the other end of the court that he finished off with a fast break layup, putting Indiana ahead 75-68.

At 3:14, Nesmith swiped the ball from Cam Johnson, who was going up for a layup, and passed the ball down the court to Haliburton. Haliburton threw a no-look lob pass to a wide-open Toppin in the key, who finished off a spinning dunk to put Indiana ahead, 83-70. All-Star Haliburton ended the quarter with nine points on a 4-of-7 shooting clip.

While making their offensive push, earning themselves as much as a 15-point lead on one occasion, Indiana held the Nets to just five buckets on 18 attempts within the quarter. Indiana finished the third frame ahead, 86-78.

McConnell got the Pacers going to start the fourth frame as he drilled a 3-pointer to give the Blue and Gold a nine-point lead. After this, Indiana shot 5-of-6 from the floor to cruise ahead to a 16-point lead roughly three minutes later.

The Blue and Gold continued full speed ahead through the next few minutes, earning themselves a 19-point lead from a 3-point trey by Haliburton at 5:54, which also capped off a 20-7 scoring run.

The Pacers scored 13 uncontested points from 4:06 to 1:56 to push them ahead to a 27-point lead from a dunk from Kendall Brown. Indiana finished the game ahead by 21 points after ending the game outscoring the Nets, 35-22, in the final frame.

For the Nets, Brooklyn was led by Thomas’ 22 points on 7-of-16 shooting from the floor and 6-of-6 shooting from the charity stripe. Four other players ended the night in double-figure scoring, including Johnson (14), Schroder (13), Trendon Watford (12), and Dorian Finney-Smith (12).

Indiana was led in scoring by Pascal Siakam’s 28 points on 11-of-22 shooting from the floor. Siakam also recorded a double-double by pulling down 11 rebounds to go along with four assists and three steals.

Six Pacers ended the night in double-figure scoring.

The Pacers scored the Nets, 82-42, in the paint, and outrebounded them, 50-45.

Indiana shot 15-of-16 from the charity stripe in the win. Siakam (6-of-6), Nesmith (5-of-5), Sheppard (2-of-2) and Turner (1-of-1) contributed to the 93.8 percent shooting.

McConnell’s 13 points and Sheppard’s 11 points helped the Pacers reserves outscore the Nets reserves, 45-37.

Indiana recorded 13 steals to Brooklyn’s eight steals.

“It was grit and guts that got the game won tonight. Anything less, it wouldn’t have happened.” -Head coach Rick Carlisle on the game

"It’s an emphasis in every game, and there have been some recent games where we didn’t do a good job of getting into the paint, and we paid the price. […] And then of course, we wanted to keep them out of the paint. [...] Holding those guys to 43 points (over the final two quarters) is an accomplishment. I think it just shows what we’re capable of defensively. On nights where we’re not shooting the ball from three well, like tonight, we’re shooting 20 percent, you got to have a 43-point half to be able to finish the game off." -Carlisle on dominating points in the paint

“We did a great job effort-wise from the jump. I thought we played hard, played with focus for 48 minutes.” -Nesmith on Indiana's defense

"Pascal was great tonight. He was great on offense. [...] And defensively he had his best game. It wasn’t even close. The play where he blitzed the pick-and-roll on the sideline and made the loose ball play (early in the fourth quarter) turned the game. Proud of him. This is what the top players have to do. These guys have to set the tone and make get-your-hands-dirty loose ball plays that don’t show up in the stat sheet." -Carlisle on Siakam's all-around impact

“Everyone’s learning. It’s easy to be like, oh, it’s been 25 games. But it takes a lot more for you to continue to learn about each other, our tendencies. I think we’re just going to continue to get better. And we’ve got to peak at the right time. That’s the focus we’ve got to have. All these games are hard. Continue to work hard, but just know that April, May, June — that’s when we want to play our best basketball.” -Siakam on getting more comfortable in Indiana

"He’s a phenomenal player to have, a phenomenal person to have on our team. Any time we have slow offense and we need help getting a basket, getting a bucket, you know you can just throw it to him and he’ll make something great happen.” -Nesmith on Siakam’s value

"He brings an energy and a level of speed to the game at both ends that is really important to us. And I just love the way he steps into his shots. […] He steps in with the same kind of conviction on each shot, the same process on each shot. That’s all that you can ask of a young player." -Carlisle on Sheppard's contributions

“Ben has always been a good defender. He’s always had really good feet, he plays with hands out, doesn’t foul much…Shepp is going to be a big-time defender in this league, a big-time player, in my opinion.” -Nesmith on Ben Sheppard

“With T.J. (McConnell), the pace and everything, I think it works well for me also. Just making sure that he has another option out there that he can go to whenever. I love playing with those guys, we play hard, bring the energy. I like those type of units.” -Siakam on getting consistent minutes playing with the second unit

After a first half that ended, 59-57, with neither team leading by more than nine points, the second half was the game-changer for Indiana. With the help of a fourth frame where they outscored the Nets, 35-22, the Pacers held Brooklyn to just 43 points in the second half on 14-of-37 shooting from the floor. In the final quarter, a 13-0 scoring run from 4:20 to 1:56 helped Indiana cruise to their largest lead of the night of 27 points.

The Pacers wrap up their homestand by welcoming Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers to Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Monday, March 18 at 7:00 PM ET. Find Tickets >>