INDIANA — The Nets looked to be punting this game. In the end they stole it.
On a night Brooklyn was missing eight rotation players — most of them being rested — a threadbare skeleton gutted out an unexpected 136-133 upset before 14,280 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The Nets (16-12) kept up the momentum from a 6-1 homestand, extending their cushion over the Pacers to 1 ½ games for fourth in the Eastern Conference.
Cam Thomas came off the bench and reminded the Pacers of his scoring prowess with a career-high 33 points, much of it in the fateful final period after having just a dozen through three mainly-quiet quarters.
Day’Ron Sharpe had a career-high-tying 20 points and 12 boards, while Edmond Sumner added 21 points, seven rebounds, five assists against the Pacers team that had waived him. His high-energy transition play to keep his new team afloat early before they found their footing.
The Nets trailed by as much as 14 and were down 120-118 with 4:15 left before going on a 10-2 run in the late stages powered by Thomas and Yuta Watanabe, making his return after missing 10 games with a hamstring injury.
Kevin Durant, Ben Simmons, Joe Harris, Seth Curry and T.J. Warren were all out for injury management, the new euphemism for rest or load management. Kyrie Irving (left adductor tightness) and Nic Claxton (right hamstring tightness) were injured and Royce O’Neale out for personal reasons.
“Yeah, it’s interesting,” Jacque Vaughn acknowledged. “You see it throughout the course of the season, maybe three guys or four guys. … When we took a global look at it, when you have two or three rotation guys out it puts a strain and stress on two or three more guys. So then we’re really not in the position of taking care of the team in total.
“Now Kevin’s led us in — led the league — in minutes played so far, so that was the goal of managing this situation. And then we think, how does it affect everyone else? And so can we get to a place where next week we’re looking ourselves in the mirror and up pretty good position with health, mentally and physically.”
Durant’s workload has been a concern for the Nets. He came into Saturday leading the league in minutes played at 994, while O’Neale was second with 971.
But on Saturday, a hodgepodge lineup acquitted themselves very well.
Sharpe, Sumner, Markieff Morris, Patty Mills and Kessler Edwards got the starts.
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A Sumner 3 put the Nets up 31-22 but they coughed up nine unanswered points — part of an extended 31-12 run — and saw Tyrese Haliburton knot the game at 31-all on a layup.
Thomas’s free throw gave the Nets a 40-38 edge, but they surrendered a 15-3 run, falling behind by 10 on a Myles Turner turnaround with 7:57 left in the half.
The deficit eventually swelled to 94-80 on a Haliburton 3-pointer with 6:24 in the third before Vaughn wisely switched tactics.
The Nets’ switch-happy defense doesn’t work robbed of versatile defenders Claxton, Simmons and Durant; and they haven’t been a drop coverage team in years. Vaughn shrewdly went to a zone with lanky Edwards at the top.
The move paid dividends and got the Nets back in the game. They closed the third on a 15-6 run, and trailed just 100-95 going into the fourth.
Sharpe threw down an alley-oop and then a vicious dunk moments later, and the Nets knotted it at 105-all on a strong baseline drive by David Duke Jr.
They saw Indiana briefly pull away again, with a Nembhard 3 capping a 7-0 run for a 112-105 Pacer lead.
The Nets trailed 122-120 before they took the lead with a 6-0 run. Thomas’ bucket tied it, and Watanabe made one of two from the stripe. He grabbed his own miss and found Mills for a 3-pointer and 126-122 lead with 2:34 to play.
Watanabe snaked inside for a putback of a Thomas miss to pad the cushion to six with under two minutes left. They closed it out from there.
Mills added 24.
Haliburton had 35 for Indiana, which fell to 14-13.
