The Sports Xchange
Dec 17, 2017
NEW YORK -- Victor Oladipo scored 26 points as the Indiana Pacers beat the Brooklyn Nets 109-97 on Sunday night.
Oladipo led the Pacers in scoring for the 21st time this season and produced his 26th game with at least 20 points. After shooting a combined 35.4 percent (17 of 48) in Indiana's losses to Oklahoma City and Detroit, Oladipo went 9 of 14 on Sunday.
Five Indiana players reached double figures as the Pacers (17-13) shot 56.6 percent and won for the fifth time in seven games.
Reserve Domantas Sabonis added 17 points and eight rebounds, helping Indiana to a 43-29 edge on the boards. Myles Turner highlighted a 16-point contribution with three dunks. Cory Joseph contributed 15 and Darren Collison chipped in 14.
Allen Crabbe returned from missing Friday's loss in Toronto with left knee soreness to lead the Nets with 17 points, but 14 came in the first quarter. Joe Harris, Quincy Acy and Caris LeVert added 14 apiece for the Nets (11-18), who shot 42 percent en route to their third straight loss.
The Pacers led by 14 points late in the first half and kept the Nets at bay in the third quarter. The Nets cut it to six points twice, but the third ended with Collison hitting a step-back jumper near the foul line for an 80-72 lead.
Brooklyn appeared that it might make more inroads into the deficit when rookie Jarrett Allen opened the fourth quarter with a nifty two-handed dunk and finished a three-point play. Three minutes later, the Pacers led 88-75 when Oladipo finished a two-on-one fast break with a layup moments after stealing the ball from Harris.
The Nets made another basket after going 0 of 6 with two turnovers since Allen's dunk, but when LeVert scored with 7:39 remaining, it only cut the deficit to 92-80.
Brooklyn continued to hang around and was within 96-89 on a 3-pointer by Acy with 4:37 left. Indiana scored the next eight points and sealed the game when Turner banked in a layup for a 104-89 lead with 2:21 remaining.
NOTES: Sunday marked the one-month anniversary of G D'Angelo Russell undergoing left knee surgery. The Nets have yet to provide an update on when Russell could return. ... The Pacers swapped reserves with their G-League team, assigning F TJ Leaf and C Ike Anigbogu to the Fort Wayne Ants and recalling F Alex Poythress and G Edmond Sumner. ... The Pacers beat the Nets for the 13th time in the past 17 meetings. ... The Nets waived G Yakuba Ouattara, who was on a two-way contract with the team.