Halting a three-game losing streak will be at the forefront on Sunday when the Indiana Pacers host the winless Brooklyn Nets in Indianapolis.
An injury-hampered Indiana team dropped its third straight in a 145-125 road loss to the Miami Heat on Friday. Without guards Tyrese Haliburton and T.J. McConnell and frontcourt pieces Obi Toppin and Ivica Zubac, the Pacers scored 42 points in the first quarter before combining for just 46 across the next two periods.
“Obviously when you’re shooting that well, trying to sustain that is going to be tough,” said Indiana assistant Lloyd Pierce, coaching in place of Rick Carlisle, who missed Friday’s game while attending the funeral of his father. “You’ve got to stick to the basics. Can we defend without fouling? Can we come up with some rebounds?”
Haliburton has averaged 21.8 points in four games since missing all of last season with an Achilles injury, but the Indiana star is now week-to-week with a hamstring strain. McConnell has yet to make his season debut while rehabbing a hamstring injury, while Toppin (back) and Zubac (ankle) have missed a combined four outings. Toppin played in just 24 games a year ago and Zubac sat the final month of the regular season with a fractured rib.
Pascal Siakam and Andrew Nembhard have spearheaded the last season-plus for Indiana as two players that have been able to avoid injury. Siakam leads the Pacers with 22.2 points per game this season, while Nembhard is averaging 17.6.
The banged-up Pacers begin a home back-to-back against a desperate Brooklyn team.
The Nets have lost their first five games for the second straight year and remain the last team in the Eastern Conference without a win. Third-year head coach Jordi Fernandez sees his team’s issues expanding beyond just missing shots.
“When our group hits adversity, it’s how we react to it,” Fernandez said of the early-season struggles. “We start well and we’re doing the right things, and then the other team responds and you see us dropping our shoulders and not giving the same energy. We can control those things.”
Brooklyn had a season-worst offensive output in its 110-94 home loss to the Detroit Pistons on Friday. In a year likely to be another in a rebuilding era that’s seen the Nets post three consecutive 50-loss campaigns, the development of rookie lottery draft pick Mikel Brown Jr. will be paramount.
Fernandez hopes veterans Julius Randle and Michael Porter Jr. will continue to show the 20-year-old the ropes.
“I always want (Randle and Porter) to lead and it’s got to come from an honest place,” Fernandez said. “I cannot force them to be out of character. I think they’re both good people and mean well. Whatever they’re comfortable doing, I’m very happy that they’re trying their best to help the group and they’ve done it from the beginning.”
Randle’s 21.0 points per game lead the Nets, while Porter chips in 20.8 per contest. Brown has compiled 10.3 ppg through his first four professional contests.
