Nets Beat Pacers 98-90 for Their First Win as Porter Scores 23

The Brooklyn Nets won for the first time this season on Sunday night, beating the Indiana Pacers 98-90 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Michael Porter Jr. scored 23 points and the Nets led the entire second half, closing out a win that had slipped away from them through the first five games.

Brooklyn came in at 0-5, one of the last winless teams in the league. The Nets leave Indianapolis at 1-5. Indiana falls to 2-5 and has lost four straight games.

Porter and Randle carry the scoring

Porter finished with 23 points, nine rebounds and three assists. He made seven of his 16 shots and three of his 10 three pointers. Julius Randle added 20 points, five rebounds and six assists, and the two forwards gave Brooklyn the scoring it had been missing on most nights this season.

Nolan Traore scored 16 points for the Nets. Day'Ron Sharpe came off the bench for 15 points and 13 rebounds, his 20th career double double and season highs in both categories. Moritz Wagner added 14 points off the bench.

Andrew Nembhard led Indiana with 23 points and four assists. Pascal Siakam scored 17, Quenton Jackson had 12, and Aaron Nesmith and Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 11 each. No other Pacer reached double figures, and Indiana's thin rotation ran short of options late.

A nine point run after halftime settles it

The first half was close and sloppy. Porter made two three pointers in the first quarter and Brooklyn took it 20-19. The teams combined for 17 turnovers before halftime, and Porter and Siakam had 13 points each at the break. Porter's layup beat the halftime buzzer and put the Nets up 43-40.

Brooklyn opened the second half with nine straight points. Porter started the run with a four point play, and Traore followed with a three pointer and a floater to stretch the lead to 52-40. Indiana never led again.

The Pacers made one real push in the fourth quarter. Nembhard scored seven points in a 10-4 run that cut the lead to 75-72, and a sellout crowd of 17,274 got loud. Brooklyn answered, rebuilt the gap, and held the Pacers off the rest of the way.

Payback for the Barclays blowout

The win also settled a score. One week earlier, Indiana went into Barclays Center and beat Brooklyn 136-109, in a game where the Nets were run off the floor in the middle quarters. This time the Pacers were the short-handed team, playing without Tyrese Haliburton while injuries have cut into the offense that carried them last season.

Indiana's problem is plain. The Pacers built their identity on pace and scoring, but with Haliburton out and the roster stretched, they managed 90 points against a team that had not won a game. Brooklyn, meanwhile, finally defended well enough to protect a lead for a full half.

One win does not fix Brooklyn's start, and the Nets remain near the bottom of the Eastern Conference. But a first win on the road, against the team that embarrassed them a week earlier, is the kind of result a young team can build on.