This time, the Nets didn’t collapse down the stretch. It was not one but two frenetic fourth-quarter rallies that fell just short in a 108-103 loss to the Pacers before a sellout crowd of 17,274 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
After having blown a five-point lead in the final minute of Thursday’s loss at these same Pacers, Saturday the script got flipped. It just had a similar ending: a loss.
The Nets trailed by 20 early in the final period and put together a 21-2 blitz to get within one. But they couldn’t get over the hump.
They fell back behind by nine with just 15.9 seconds left, only to pull within two. They tried to pressure the inbounds with 3.1 seconds remaining, but Tyrese Martin got whistled for a foul. The Pacers iced it at the charity stripe.
“[Thursday] was on our mind. We feel like we let one slip away. Even though I got ejected, we felt like even without me we should’ve won that game. We just gave up a lead and you just try to come out and be better,” Trendon Watford said. “Our fourth quarter, that’s how we need to play out pretty much throughout the game.”
The Nets (23-48) had a team record-tying 10th straight game decided by single digits. And they lost to move into fifth in the lottery odds, a half-game ahead of Philadelphia and 1 ½ ahead of Toronto.
Watford, who saw the Nets collapse after his ejection Thursday, was one shy of his career best with a team-high 26 points. Cam Johnson scored 20.
- CHECK OUT THE LATEST NBA STANDINGS AND NETS STATS
“I feel like we would’ve won that last game if I didn’t get ejected, so I just wanted to lock in and be out there for them,” Watford said. “We came up short, but I just want to be out there and be as impactful as I can.”
Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton returned from his sore lower back with 16 points, a dozen assists and eight boards. Pascal Siakam scored 26 and Myles Turner 22 for the Pacers, who outscored the Nets 21-8 in transition.
The Nets gave up the first seven points of the night and trailed almost wire-to-wire.
Down 35-34 after Johnson’s turnaround bank shot with 8:07 in the half, they allowed a lightning-quick 9-0 one-minute blitz to go down by ten.
Watford dunked to get the Nets within 79-70, but they conceded an 11-0 run to end the third. Siakam’s layup with three seconds left put the Nets in a 90-70 hole.
The Nets put two on the ball to force turnovers, and opened the fourth with a furious 21-2 run. After Martin’s 3 cut the deficit to 92-89, he fed Nic Claxton for a dunk to pull within one with 4:30 to play.
But that’s as close as Brooklyn got. Bennedict Mathurin’s jumper stemmed the tide, and his layup capped a Pacers run that left the Nets down 104-95 with 15 seconds left.
An 8-1 run closed it to 105-103 on Keon Johnson’s dunk with 3.1 seconds on the clock, but the Nets ran out of time.
D’Angelo Russell (ankle) and Ziaire Williams (hamstring) were out.
Watford’s older brother got to see him play these past two games, and was seated near the bench on Saturday.
Follow all the basketball buzz in Brooklyn
Sign up for Inside the Nets by Brian Lewis, exclusively on Sports+.
Thank you
Christian Watford played four years for Indiana, leading the Hoosiers to the 2013 outright Big Ten title, a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and Sweet 16 berth.
“As I was shooting free throws, I was hearing ‘Christian’s better’ or something like that at the top, in the nosebleeds they were saying that,” Watford said.
