Nets get revenge on short-handed Pacers for first win of season

INDIANAPOLIS — For much of Sunday night, the Nets couldn’t buy a basket.

By the end, they were no longer winless.

The Nets ground their way past the short-handed Pacers 98-90 before a sellout crowd of 17,274 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. It wasn’t perfect or even easy, but it was enough.

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“It wasn’t a pretty win, but it’s a win regardless. We got that zero out of that column, so we’re really happy about that,” Michael Porter Jr. said. “If you’re going to be a good team, eventually you’ve got to learn how to win games like this.

Brooklyn Nets forward Julius Randle (30) shoots over Indiana Pacers guard Aaron Nesmith (23) in Indianapolis, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. AP Photo/AJ Mast

“Neither team shot the ball well. Neither team cracked 100 points. That’s the type of games we want to win. It was good resilience. Sometimes, we let bad offense dictate our defense, and [Sunday,] we just kept going, grinding it out.”

The Nets (1-5) entered Sunday grinding in first gear, their offense struggling and sputtering.

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It still wasn’t crisp. But against an Indiana team without Tyrese Haliburton, Ivica Zubac, Obi Toppin and T.J. McConnell, their defense, rebounding and improved attack got the job done.

A week earlier, they’d suffered a 136-109 loss to these Pacers, memorable for Haliburton tossing the ball off the court to himself for a dunk. The Nets bounced back in the rematch for their first victory.

“It feels good. I can sleep a little bit better,” Julius Randle said. “But we’ve got a lot to improve on. I’m happy for the group. We’ve been working real hard. We’re sticking together in tough moments. … But it’s just a start — we know we can be a lot better. We need to continue to grow and build off what we did.”

Brooklyn Nets forward Noah Clowney (21) dunks against the Indiana Pacers on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

That beats coming unglued in tough moments, which they’d done all too often.

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Porter had 23 points and nine rebounds. Randle added 20 points, six assists and five boards. More importantly, he finished a plus-17, and wasn’t a…

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Publish date : 2026-11-02 01:31:00

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