Pascal Siakam Leads Pacers to 121-100 Win Over Nets

1. First Quarter

The Indiana Pacers had the last two days off following the heartbreaking loss to the Chicago Bulls in overtime Wednesday night. Indiana struggled offensively to start the game. Aaron Nesmith scored five of the first nine for the team to put the Pacers up 9-7 four and a half minutes of play. Brooklyn then went on a 11-2 run to go ahead 18-11 with 4:27 left in the first quarter. Indiana cut it to two with an Obi Toppin layup. Brooklyn responded with seven points to go ahead a quarter high nine points with 1:08 left. Indiana closed the quarter with seven points compared to three for Brooklyn to trail 30-25 after twelve minutes. Nesmith led all scorers with eight points followed by Brooklyn’s Dorian Finney-Smith with seven points.

2. Second Quarter

Brooklyn was hold off the Pacers for the most part to start the second quarter. The Pacers second unit couldn’t make much headway on the deficit until Pascal Siakam was inserted back into the lineup after two quick fouls in the first quarter. He entered with 10:00 left in the half and with 8:29 left, the Pacers trailed 38-36 after a Jalen Smith putback. Brooklyn responded with six points out of the timeout on threes from Dennis Schroder and Finney-Smith. Indiana was down 44-36 with 7:44 left in the half. The Pacers then went on 10-0 run to take their fist lead in the quarter on a Nesmith triple. Brooklyn responded after the Pacers run and reclaimed a 52-48 advantage. The Pacers responded to take a 59-57 lead going into halftime. With 10 points in the quarter, Siakam was tied for the lead in scoring with Nesmith with 14 points. Brooklyn’s leading scorer was Finney-Smith and Cameron Johnson with 10 points.

3. Third Quarter

At halftime, Tyrese Haliburton only made one of his nine field goal attempts and missed all six of his three-pointers. He got going in the third quarter with nine points on four of seven shooting. Cam Thomas gave Brooklyn the lead with 8:58 remaining on a three that made it 66-65. Just over five minutes of game action elapsed, and the Pacers were now leading 83-70. Indiana went on a 18-4 run with Haliburton, Toppin, Siakam, Myles Turner, and Andrew Nembhard all scoring during that stretch. The Pacers continued adding to their lead after a Haliburton three-point play that put the team up 86-71. Brooklyn closed the quarter strong to trail 86-78. Siakam led all scorers with 18 points followed by 16 points from Nesmith.

4. Fourth Quarter

With the late burst from the Nets, it felt like the game could go one of two ways. The game could either become close and down to the wire, or the Pacers responding to the surge and putting the Nets away. Three bench players (Ben Sheppard, T.J. McConnell, Jalen Smith), Siakam, and Nembhard would start the quarter with a 13-5 burst to go ahead 99-83 with 9:06 remaining in the game. Nets scored on back-to-back possessions, but the Pacers quickly made it 106-87 with Haliburton’s first three of the game from thirty feet out. Eventually the Pacers would go up by a game high twenty-seven with 1:49 left on a Kendall Brown dunk. Pacers win it 121-100.

5. Top Performers

Pascal Siakam (28p, 11r, 4a, 3s), Aaron Nesmith (16p, 4r, 3a), Tyrese Haliburton (14p, 7r, 4a, 2s), T.J. McConnell (13p, 5r, 1a), Myles Turner (11p, 7r), and Ben Sheppard (11p). For Brooklyn, Cam Thomas (22p, 8r), Cameron Johnson (14p), Dennis Schroder (13p, 5a), Dorian Finney-Smith (12p, 4r), and Nicolas Claxton (9p, 10r). For tonight’s full box score, click here.

6. Notes

• Pascal Siakam registered his 11th double-double on the season
  • It’s his 6th double-double as an Indiana Pacer
• Pascal Siakam logged his 15th game with 20+ points as a Pacer
• Indiana Pacers are 16-3 when Aaron Nesmith scores 15+ points
• J. McConnell scored 10+ points for the 22nd time this season
• Ben Sheppard scored 10+ points for the 5th time of the season
  • Pacers are 5-0 in such games
• Indiana clinched a home winning record for the first time since 2019-2020
  • That was the final year of 31 consecutive winning seasons at home
• Myles Turner is 6 blocks away from setting the franchise record for blocks
  • Jermaine O’Neal holds record with 1,245
• Indiana sits 6th in the Eastern Conference standings
  • Trail New York Knicks for 4th by 2.5 games
  • Trail Orlando Magic for 5th by 1.5 games
  • .5 game advantage over Philadelphia 76ers
  • 1 game advantage over Miami Heat

7. Next Up

The Indiana Pacers wrap up the three-game homestand on Monday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers. All-star guard Donovan Mitchell is expected to miss the game with a knee injury that’s plagued him since the All-Star game. He’s only played in five of Cleveland’s fourteen games. The Kroger Pregame Show with Pat Boylan will start at 6:30pm. Mark Boyle and Eddie Gill will have the play-by-play starting at 7pm on 93.5/107.5 The Fan.