The Indiana Pacers are experiencing a trying season while Tyrese Haliburton recovers from a torn Achilles tendon, yet they are occasionally showing traits of the team that reached Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals.
One instance occurred on Tuesday when the Pacers played one of the wilder games in the NBA this season and outlasted the host New York Knicks for a 137-134 overtime victory.
The Pacers hope they can possess enough energy on the second night of a back-to-back on Wednesday when they visit the Brooklyn Nets, who are seeking to match their season-best run, a three-game winning streak.
Indiana is 8-9 over its past 17 games since enduring a 13-game losing streak Dec. 12-Jan 6 that left the team with a 6-31 record. Five of the wins in the recent stretch were decided by three points or fewer, and against the Knicks, the Pacers earned a victory in a game that featured an NBA season-high 39 lead changes and 16 ties.
Indiana, which posted its highest point total of the season, was led by Pascal Siakam’s 30 points. The Pacers also received key contributions from Quenton Jackson, who scored seven of his 19 in overtime. He was one of eight Indiana players who scored in double figures.
“This was a really important game for us,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “The season that we’ve had, this environment, the opponent, our guys had a great collective spirit and collective will tonight.”
The Pacers also saw a return to form from Andrew Nembhard, who scored 24 on 9-of-16 shooting after he went a combined 10-for-35 in the previous two games, at Milwaukee and at Toronto.
Brooklyn earned a 112-103 win at Indiana on Nov. 5 and is seeking three straight wins for the first time since Dec. 21-27. Those victories were part of a 7-3 stretch, and the Nets are 5-18 since Dec. 29.
Brooklyn has scored at least 120 in consecutive games for the first time since Nov. 25-27, 2024. The Nets earned a 123-115 home win over the Chicago Bulls on Monday, two days after leading by as many as 34 in a 14-point win over the Washington Wizards.
The Nets improved to 2-9 without leading scorer Michael Porter Jr. and the forward will sit again Wednesday due to right knee tendinitis. Brooklyn may also be without Nic Claxton, who is questionable because of a sore right hip after scoring a career-high 28 points Monday night.
“We executed. The ball was popping,” Claxton said. “We were missing Mike, but everybody stepped up and we were able to create some good looks and I knocked down some shots.
Regardless of who plays, the Nets are hoping to see more promising results from Nolan Traore, who collected 13 points and a career-high 13 assists against Chicago. Traore has scored 49 points on 18-of-31 shooting in his past three games. He will start in the backcourt on Wednesday alongside fellow rookie Egor Demin, who was rested on Monday.
“Nolan was making the right play to start, whether that was getting downhill, spraying it, scoring, hitting the pocket,” Brooklyn forward Noah Clowney said. “He was giving us an advantage and letting us play off that. When you play like that, it’s really easy.”
Traore and Demin will be in a starting lineup that also includes Danny Wolf, another rookie. Wolf started for Porter on Monday and set a career high by reaching double figures for the third straight game. He finished with 13 points and a career-best three blocked shots.
–Field Level Media
