The Nets won Saturday in Chicago while playing without Kyrie Irving for the first time this season, but they missed his 28.5 points per game contribution big-time in a 115-86 loss to the Pacers that all but ended in the second quarter when they fell behind by 28 points Monday night at Barclays Center.
Spencer Dinwiddie, who was Saturday's hero with a 20-point fourth quarter, put on another stellar performance while replacing Irving as the starting point guard, scoring 28 points on 9-of-21 shooting and adding eight assists and five rebounds while playing 33 minutes. But the rest of the Nets (5-8) starters combined for just 34 points, and the bench virtually failed to fire, totaling a mere 14 points on 4-for-19 shooting before coach Kenny Atkinson pulled his starters and cleared his bench with 6:05 remaining and the Nets trailing 99-76.
The Pacers (8-6) also had injury problems without injured point guard Malcolm Brogdon (lower back) or high-scoring sixth man Jeremy Lamb (ankle). But after a slow start, they had five players score in double figures led by Aaron Holiday with 24 points and 13 assists and 20 points from Justin Holiday. T.J. Warren added 19 points and Domantas Sabonis had 16 points and 18 rebounds. The Pacers outrebounded the Nets, 63-40.
