Cameron Johnson scored 26 points, Ben Simmons played a key role in a crucial fourth-quarter run, and the Brooklyn Nets held off a late comeback attempt to beat the Indiana Pacers 99-90 on Wednesday night in New York.
Johnson, who missed Monday’s 26-point loss to Chicago due to a hamstring injury, made seven of Brooklyn’s 12 three-pointers. He shot 7 of 18 overall and grabbed seven rebounds.
Nic Claxton added 16 points and eight rebounds, and Shake Milton contributed 15 points off the bench. The Nets almost let a 21-point lead slip away. Jalen Wilson also scored 11 points, and Brooklyn shot 43.2 percent as they bounced back from their biggest loss of the season.
Simmons, who missed Monday’s game with a sore left knee, scored seven points but was involved in Brooklyn’s 10-0 run in the fourth quarter. This run turned an 80-80 tie into a 90-80 lead. He also collected nine assists and seven rebounds in 21 minutes.
Tyrese Haliburton had a rough game, scoring 17 points as the Pacers lost their eighth straight road game. Pascal Siakam and T.J. McConnell added 14 points each. The Pacers shot 42.7 percent and missed 25 of their 33 three-point attempts.
Obi Toppin scored 13 points, and rookie Johnny Furphy added 12. Myles Turner scored 11 points, and Bennedict Mathurin was held to eight points on 3-of-12 shooting from the field.
Indiana outscored Brooklyn 26-14 in the last 7:17 of the third quarter to close the gap to 75-70 going into the final period. After a turnover by Dennis Schroder, Toppin dunked the ball to make it 77-76. Siakam then made two free throws to tie the game at 80-80 with 8:06 left.
Simmons started the game-winning run with an alley-oop dunk from Milton at 7:42. He also blocked Mathurin’s layup with 6:14 to go and assisted on two layups by Wilson during the run.
Before this, the Nets held a 24-17 lead after starting the game by making only 1 of their first 9 shots. Claxton’s dunk extended the lead to 37-20 with 8:35 left in the second quarter, and the Nets pushed the advantage to 21 points when Johnson hit a three-pointer with 6:07 remaining. Brooklyn led 51-35 at halftime.
