Nets Beat Pacers 98-90 as Porter Scores 23 for First Win of Season

The Brooklyn Nets beat the Indiana Pacers 98-90 on Sunday, November 1, 2026, and for the first time this season the Nets are no longer winless. Michael Porter Jr. scored 23 points, Julius Randle added 20, and Brooklyn ground out an ugly, defensive win before a sellout crowd of 17,274 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, improving to 1-5 while Indiana fell to 2-5 with a fourth straight defeat.

It was not a pretty win, and Porter said so himself after the game, but it was a win regardless, and it removed the zero from Brooklyn's record. The Nets never trailed after the first quarter, opened the second half with nine straight points, and held Indiana below 100 points for the first time this season, a defensive effort that mattered more than any single scoring run on a night when neither team shot the ball well.

Key Points

• Brooklyn beat Indiana 98-90 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Sunday, November 1, 2026, for its first win of the season, improving to 1-5.
• Michael Porter Jr. scored 23 points with nine rebounds and three assists, and Julius Randle added 20 points, six assists and five rebounds.
• Day'Ron Sharpe had 15 points and 13 rebounds, Nolan Traore scored 16, and Moritz Wagner added 14 points off the bench.
• Andrew Nembhard led Indiana with 23 points, Pascal Siakam scored 17, and the Pacers fell to 2-5 with a fourth straight loss.
• Brooklyn led 20-19 after the first quarter, never trailed again, and opened the second half with a 9-0 run to lead 52-40.

What Happened

The first quarter set the tone for an evening of hard, low-scoring basketball. Porter made two first-quarter three-pointers to help the Nets take a 20-19 lead into the second period, and the Nets led 18-12 after a Porter free throw with 1:43 left in the quarter. Neither team found a rhythm early, and the first half ended with the teams having combined for 17 turnovers, with Porter and Siakam scoring 13 points apiece before the break.

Brooklyn held only a three-point advantage at half-time, but the second half began with the decisive burst. The Nets scored nine straight points to push the lead to 52-40, and after Indiana narrowed the deficit to four, Traore and Randle buried back-to-back three-pointers and Noah Clowney dunked to make it 68-56 with 3:07 left in the third quarter. Brooklyn led the entire second half, and the Pacers never got closer than three points in the closing stages until the final minutes.

Indiana did threaten late. Andrew Nembhard's three-pointer made it 75-72 with 9:29 to play, cutting Brooklyn's lead to three and giving the home crowd a reason to believe in a comeback. The Nets answered the way winning teams do in close games: Randle knocked down a crucial three-pointer, then set up Traore for baskets on consecutive possessions to restore a double-digit advantage, and Randle's stepback three-pointer with 4:44 left pushed the lead to 10. Indiana, which had already lost three straight before Sunday, could not find another run, and Brooklyn closed out the 98-90 win.

Background and Context

Brooklyn entered Sunday grinding in first gear, as one report put it, with an offence that had struggled and sputtered through five straight defeats to open the season. The Nets had lost 136-109 to these same Pacers just one week earlier, a game remembered for a spectacular play in which Tyrese Haliburton tossed the ball off the court to himself for a dunk, and the rematch carried an obvious revenge element. This time the Nets held Indiana to 90 points, a full 46 fewer than a week earlier, and the difference was defence, rebounding and patience rather than shot-making.

Indiana was short-handed, and that context matters. The Pacers were without several important players, including Tyrese Haliburton, Ivica Zubac, Obi Toppin and T.J. McConnell, and they have now lost four straight games and all three of their home games. Nembhard's 23 points, Siakam's 17 and Quenton Jackson's 12, with Aaron Nesmith and Kelly Oubre Jr. adding 11 apiece, kept Indiana competitive, but the Pacers could not match Brooklyn's depth on the night, with Sharpe's double-double and Wagner's bench scoring giving the Nets two advantages Indiana could not answer.

The win also changed the shape of the league's winless list. After Brooklyn's victory, the Sacramento Kings, at 0-6, were left as the only winless team in the NBA, a fact noted in Sunday's roundups. For a Nets team that had opened 0-5, the difference between 0-6 and 1-5 is not only mathematical; it is psychological, and both Porter and Randle spoke after the game about sleeping better and about learning how to win games exactly like this one.

Nets Beat Pacers: The Numbers Behind the Win

Porter's line was the most complete of the night for Brooklyn: 23 points on 7-of-16 shooting, with three three-pointers, six free throws, nine rebounds and three assists. Randle finished with 20 points on 5-of-15 shooting, with four three-pointers, six assists and five rebounds, and, more importantly for a player sometimes criticised for stopping the ball, a game-best plus-17 rating. Sharpe collected 15 points and 13 rebounds with four assists for the 20th double-double of his career, Traore scored 16, and Wagner chipped in 14 points off the bench.

Brooklyn outrebounded Indiana 43-37, and that edge, combined with holding the Pacers below 100 points for the first time this season, tells the story of the win better than any shooting percentage. The Nets were not efficient, and for much of the night, as the New York Post report put it, they could not buy a basket. What they did was defend, rebound and make the right play late: Randle's stepback three at 4:44, the back-to-back Traore and Randle threes in the third quarter, and the 9-0 run to open the second half.

For Indiana, Nembhard's 23 points led the team, Siakam added 17 on 6-of-14 shooting with five rebounds and five assists, and Jackson scored 12. Nesmith and Oubre each scored 11, but the Pacers' offence, already missing its most important creators, could not sustain a run long enough to retake the lead after the first quarter. The Pacers never led after the opening period, and every time they cut the deficit to three or four, Brooklyn answered.

Reactions and Quotes

Porter's post-game words captured the mood in the Brooklyn locker room. "It wasn't a pretty win, but it's a win regardless. We got that zero out of that column, so we're really happy about that," he said. "If you're going to be a good team, eventually you've got to learn how to win games like this." The quote matters because it frames the win not as a breakthrough but as a lesson: good teams win ugly games, and Brooklyn, after five straight losses, had finally done so.

Randle was briefer and just as revealing. "It feels good. I can sleep a little bit better," he said, a line that speaks to the pressure of an 0-5 start, when every loss adds weight and every practice becomes a search for answers. Randle's own game on Sunday, 20 points with six assists and a plus-17 rating, suggested a player who had found a way to contribute without dominating the ball, and the report noted that he was not a ball stopper on the night, a detail that will encourage Brooklyn's coaches more than the scoring total alone.

The wider Sunday context also gave the win a different colour. Elsewhere on the same night, Jayson Tatum scored 32 points as Boston beat Orlando 108-97 for a fifth straight win, Luka Doncic scored 45 points with 15 rebounds as the Los Angeles Lakers beat Toronto 131-125, and Golden State rookie Yaxel Lendeborg scored a career-high 37 as the Warriors beat the Los Angeles Clippers 124-112. Brooklyn's win was the least spectacular of the four, and in some ways the most human: a struggling team, on the road, in front of a sellout crowd, finding a way to win a game it could easily have lost.

Why It Matters

A first win matters because it stops a losing streak from becoming an identity. At 0-5, every question about a team becomes a question about the streak; at 1-5, the questions become about the next game. Brooklyn's players spoke about that shift after the game, and the coaching staff will hope that the defensive effort, holding a team below 100 points for the first time this season, becomes a habit rather than a one-off.

The win also matters for Indiana, in the opposite direction. A fourth straight defeat, a third straight home defeat and a 2-5 record, with key players missing, put the Pacers in an early hole, and the next home game, against Atlanta on Monday, November 2, becomes important not only for the record but for confidence. A team that cannot win at home, even short-handed, will face questions about its depth and its resilience, and those questions will only grow louder if the losing streak reaches five.

For the league as a whole, Brooklyn's win leaves Sacramento alone at the bottom, and it reminds every struggling team that the first win often comes not from a scoring explosion but from defence, rebounding and a few timely shots. The Nets shot poorly for much of Sunday, and still won, because they rebounded better, defended better and made the plays that mattered in the final five minutes.

What Happens Next

Both teams play again on Monday, November 2, and neither assignment is easy. Brooklyn visits the defending NBA champion New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden at 7:30 p.m. Eastern, a test of whether Sunday's defensive effort travels to the league's most famous arena against its best team. Indiana hosts the Atlanta Hawks at 7:30 p.m. Eastern, looking to end a four-game losing streak and to win at home for the first time this season.

The Nets will also carry a question into New York: whether the offence can find a second gear. Sunday's win was built on defence and on Porter's 23 points, but Brooklyn will need more scoring, and more consistent scoring, against a championship team. The encouraging signs are there, in Randle's playmaking, in Sharpe's double-double and in Traore's 16 points, but a win over a short-handed Indiana team is a first step, not a destination.

Indiana, meanwhile, needs its missing players back, or it needs the players who are available to produce more. Nembhard's 23 points and Siakam's 17 were not enough on Sunday, and the Pacers' bench could not match Wagner's 14 points for Brooklyn. If the injuries persist, Indiana's season will depend on whether its supporting cast can turn competitive losses into wins, starting with Atlanta on Monday.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was the final score of Nets vs Pacers on November 1, 2026? Brooklyn won 98-90 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, leading 20-19 after the first quarter and never trailing again.

How many points did Michael Porter Jr. score? Porter scored 23 points with nine rebounds and three assists, on 7-of-16 shooting with three three-pointers.

What is Brooklyn's record after the win? Brooklyn improved to 1-5 with its first win of the season, while Indiana fell to 2-5 with a fourth straight loss.

Who else starred for Brooklyn? Julius Randle scored 20 points with six assists, Day'Ron Sharpe had 15 points and 13 rebounds, Nolan Traore scored 16, and Moritz Wagner added 14 off the bench.

Who led Indiana in scoring? Andrew Nembhard scored 23 points, Pascal Siakam scored 17, and Quenton Jackson scored 12 for the Pacers.

Related coverage: Doncic 45 Points Powers Lakers Past Raptors 131-125 in Late Scare, Lendeborg's 37 Powers Warriors Past Clippers 124-112 Without Curry, Pistons Beat Nets 110-94 as Holland's Third-Quarter Surge Keeps Brooklyn Winless.