Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers were a step ahead of Dorian Finney-Smith and the Nets throughout Monday’s series opener in Indiana. AP Photo by Darron Cummings
With their play-in tournament hopes all but dashed and coming off Sunday’s loss to LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, the Brooklyn Nets just didn’t look “prepared” enough to open a home-and-home set with the Indiana Pacers Monday night.
Brooklyn yielded a whopping 43 first-quarter points, gave up 70 in the paint and trailed by as many as 36 before finally absorbing a painful 133-111 defeat to the Pacers in front of 16,522 fans at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
“It’s letting (the Pacers) getting to the rim and creating paint touches and then kicking it out and then we’re scrambling and trying to get back,” Nets interim coach Kevin Ollie lamented.
“Give credit to them, they played their style of play. They are relentless at it.”
The Nets (29-47), who saw their magic number for postseason elimination dwindle to one, relented throughout.
Other than a brief skirmish following a flagrant foul on Brooklyn point guard Dennis Schroder and an ejection-inducing push back by Jalen Smith during the third quarter, Brooklyn hardly looked up for a fight against an Indiana squad priming for a playoff run.
Tyrese Haliburton poured in 27 points and dished out 13 assists and Smith added 17 points and 10 boards for the Pacers (43-33), who won for the third time in four games to remain one length ahead of Miami for the coveted sixth seed in the Eastern Conference.
“We did a good job pushing the pace,” Haliburton said. “We were getting stops and running. That ultimately let to shots going in. We were playing the right way.”
If Indiana can hold off the Heat, they’ll avoid a play-in and earn an automatic berth into a…
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