SALON

Tuesday, Feb 12, 2013 8:34 AM UTC

Without Williams, Nets rally, beat Pacers in OT

By

Topics: From the Wires,

Without Williams, Nets rally, beat Pacers in OTBrooklyn Nets center Brook Lopez, right, fouls Indiana Pacers guard Lance Stephenson as he shoots in the second half of an NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Monday, Feb. 11, 2013. The Nets defeated the Pacers 89-84 in overtime. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)(Credit: AP)

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Brooklyn Nets made it through one game without Deron Williams.

They’re hoping they won’t have to play this way much more.

By getting the ball inside to Brook Lopez early, letting Reggie Evans clean the glass all night and putting the ball in Joe Johnson’s hands late, the Nets returned to their winning ways, beating Indiana 89-84 in overtime.

For the Nets, this was vindication.

“We played, we got down, we hustled, we got to the free-throw line and we battled them on the boards,” interim coach P.J. Carelsimo said. “The only good thing about getting killed by San Antonio was the next day, we beat one of the better teams in the league.”

Things sure didn’t look right before the game for Brooklyn (30-22).

The Nets came to Indy with three losses in four games, including a 111-86 shellacking at home Sunday and were about to play one of the league’s best home teams on a court where they had lost five straight. They had struggled badly to score, too, and they were missing their most versatile offensive player, who was diagnosed with synovitis, an inflammation of the ankle joint linings. He received platelet rich plasma treatment on both ankles and isn’t expected to return until after the All-Star break.

Somehow, though, the Nets stayed focused enough to turn the tables on Indiana.

Brooklyn had only 11 turnovers, forced the recently proficient Pacers shooters to make just 34.4 percent of their shots, limited All-Star forward Paul George to five points on 1-of-10 shooting, and rallied late in regulation in a game that looked all but lost. Then, in overtime, the Nets pounced.

“We wanted to come out tonight and make a statement,” Johnson said after finishing with 17 points. “We were just being very resilient. Guys were coming up big and making plays.”

It was a miserable night for the Pacers (31-21).

George was out of sync all night and eventually fouled out with 1:03 left in regulation.

David West, Indiana’s other big scorer, got poked in the eye by Lopez 60 seconds into the game. When he returned to start the second half, he didn’t look like himself. He was just 2 of 11 from the field with seven points and six rebounds and missed three straight midrange shots at the end of regulation, the last a 14-footer that bounced off the front of the rim as time expired.

Instead, the Pacers have now followed their longest winning streak of the season (five) with two straight losses and their longest home winning streak (15) in more than a decade with back-to-back overtime losses. And Chicago’s loss at San Antonio on Monday was the only thing that allowed them to retain the Central Division lead.

George Hill led the Pacers with 22 points and six assists while Lance Stephenson and Jeff Pendergraph each had 14. It was a season high for Pendergraph, whose previous best was six.

Whether it was fatigue from this recent stretch — five games in eight days — or just an off-night, the Pacers were most frustrated by letting another one get away.

“If we make half the shots we missed, we’re in the 90′s and our defense held them in the 70′s for the most part,” George lamented. “Credit them. They came in and played a hard game.”

Brooklyn also dominated the game when it mattered most.

Indiana used a late 7-0 run to turn a 72-69 deficit into a 76-72 lead with 1:38 to go. But when George fouled out, the complexion of the game changed.

Evans, who scored just eight points, made one of two free throws to make it a one-possession game. West missed a 16-foot step-back jumper, and when D.J. Augustin was called for a foul, Gerald Wallace made 1 of 2 free throws to cut the lead to two. West followed that by missing a 17-footer and Johnson answered with a 10-foot bank shot to tie it.

West’s next miss, at the buzzer, sent the game into overtime.

“Tough shooting night, one of those nights where we couldn’t put the ball in the basket,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said.

Brooklyn made the Pacers pay for it.

After Roy Hibbert opened the overtime with a free throw, the Nets went on a 9-2 run to make it 85-79 with 45.2 seconds to go, and Johnson closed out the win by making four straight free throws.

“It was great. It was a complete team game from top to bottom,” Lopez said. “It was a good win tonight as we responded to their runs.”

Notes: Former Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine, who lives in nearby Anderson, Ind., played the national anthem on a harmonica for Brooklyn’s inaugural trip to Bankers Life Fieldhouse. … The Pacers may have played their final game without All-Star forward Danny Granger, who returned to full practice Sunday and could be back in uniform Wednesday against Charlotte. … Brooklyn has failed to score 100 points in eight straight games. … Indiana lost only three home games from Nov. 13 through Feb. 7, but has now lost twice at home in four days.

More By Michael Marot.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations