Brooklyn Nets center DeAndre Jordan (6) reacts at the final buzzer as his team defeats the Indiana Pacers in an NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Monday, Feb. 10, 2020. | AP Photo
INDIANAPOLIS — Spencer Dinwiddie struggled to find his shooting touch Monday night, Tuesday morning (February 11, 2020, Philippine Time).
He rediscovered it in the nick of time for Brooklyn.
Dinwiddie calmly knocked down the go-ahead 21-footer with 5.2 seconds left, then watched as Indiana’s final shot come up well short to give the Nets a 106-105 victory over the Indiana Pacers.
“I kept thinking I was going to blow the game because we were playing so well collectively,” he said. “I was like, ‘Come on, man! You can’t be the one that blows this thing.’ That last shot was different.”
It was a strange game for Dinwiddie.
He finished 4 of 15 from the field and 0 for 7 on 3-pointers yet made made 13 of 15 from the free throw line, scoring 21 points and dishing out 11 assists.
But the only thing that really mattered was Dinwiddie delivering on his last chance in a game Brooklyn controlled for almost the entire first three quarters.
The result: Brooklyn earned a rare road victory, beat the Pacers for the first time in three tries this season and now, thanks to Dinwiddie, has back-to-back wins at Indiana for the first time in seven seasons.
“I thought our defense was great in the fourth quarter. We only turned it over twice,” coach Kenny Atkinson said. “Guys made plays. That’s what it all comes down to in the NBA, at the end of the game, you make plays.”
For the Pacers, the fourth-quarter breakdowns are becoming a familiar tale.
The lead changed hands three times in the final 27 seconds — with the Nets taking a 104-103 lead, their first of the quarter, on Joe Harris’ 3-pointer.
Indiana answered with a layup from Domantas Sabonis with 10 seconds left to make it 105-104.
But Dinwiddie’s basket put the Nets back in front, and Malcolm Brogdon’s errant 3 at the buzzer sealed the Pacers’ fate, ruining Sabonis’ fourth triple-double of the season.
Sabonis finished with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists. T.J. Warren added 19 points as the Pacers lost their sixth in a row — matching their longest skid since February 2017.
“We had a four-point lead there, late. We’ve got to win that,” Indiana coach Nate McMillan said. “You’ve got to score and you’ve got to get stops and we didn’t do that, again. It’s us, again, not finishing the game.”