Aaron Holiday scored a career-high 24 points, and brother Justin Holiday added a season-high 20 points as the Indiana Pacers shook off a sluggish start and continued their success over the Brooklyn Nets with a 115-86 victory on Monday night in New York.
The brothers, who are the seventh set of siblings to be teammates in NBA history, helped the Pacers beat the Nets for the second time this season, 11th time in 12 meetings and sixth straight time in Brooklyn. The Pacers also rebounded from consecutive losses to Houston and Milwaukee to improve to 8-3 in their past 11 games.
The Pacers picked up their latest win while playing without Malcolm Brogdon (sore back) and Jeremy Lamb (sprained left ankle), but the Holiday brothers helped compensate for those injuries.
Aaron Holiday shot 10 of 19, added six rebounds and a career-high 13 assists. Justin Holiday made 6 of 11 shots as the Pacers overcame missing 21 of 28 shots in the opening quarter. For the game, the Pacers shot 43.6 percent, hit 14 3-pointers and led by as many as 30 thanks to outscoring the Nets 41-17 in the second.
T.J. Warren added 19 points while Domantas Sabonis collected 16 points and a career-high 18 rebounds as the Pacers outrebounded the Nets by a commanding 63-40 margin.
The Nets lost for the fourth time in five games and were blown out in their second game without Kyrie Irving (right shoulder impingement). Irving was listed as questionable for the game but was ruled out Monday afternoon.
Spencer Dinwiddie started for Irving and scored 16 of his 28 points in the third quarter when the Nets made a small dent in Indiana's lead. Garrett Temple (10 points) and Jarrett Allen (10) were the only other Nets to reach double figures in scoring in a game in which Brooklyn shot a season-low 35.7 percent.
The Pacers used a 34-8 run that spanned about 13 1/2 minutes, bridging the first and second quarters to take a 40-22 lead on a layup by Sabonis with 5:49 remaining in the first half. During that span, the Nets missed 20 of 23 shots, including several layups, before the Pacers ended the first half on a 13-4 run to take a 59-35 lead by halftime.
The Nets were within 77-65 on a 3-pointer by Temple with 2:45 left in the third but the Pacers withstood Brooklyn's comeback attempt and took an 84-68 lead into the fourth. Consecutive hoops by Aaron Holiday gave the Pacers a 95-76 lead with 7:27 remaining and sealed their latest win over Brooklyn.
--Field Level Media
Indiana | Brooklyn | |
Aaron Holiday 24 | Scoring | Spencer Dinwiddie 28 |
Aaron Holiday 13 | Assists | Spencer Dinwiddie 8 |
Domantas Sabonis 18 | Rebounds | Jarrett Allen 12 |
T.J. Warren 6 | Free Throws Made | Spencer Dinwiddie 6 |
Justin Holiday 2 | Steals | Spencer Dinwiddie 1 |
Myles Turner 3 | Blocks | Garrett Temple 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Indiana | 115 | 43.6 | 14-33 | 13-17 | 26 | 63 | 8 | 5 | 10 |
Brooklyn | 86 | 35.7 | 11-34 | 15-24 | 18 | 40 | 7 | 2 | 10 |