The Nets rested every key rotation player — with the exception of Yuta Watanabe and Edmond Sumner — in the second game of back to back against the Indiana Pacers on Saturday.
Against a mostly healthy Indiana team, the Nets were significant underdogs.
But Brooklyn’s second and third units stole a 136-133 victory over a healthy, surging Pacers team at Gainbridge Fieldhouse Saturday. The Nets continue to march up the Eastern Conference standings. They have won 10 of their last 13 games and rank fourth in the East behind only Boston, Milwaukee and Cleveland.
Brooklyn’s success has directly correlated with Jacque Vaughn’s promotion to head coach. The Nets began the season 2-5 under Steve Nash. They are 13-7 under Vaughn.
The proof was in the pudding against a Pacers team that has exceeded expectations this season.
The Nets desperately needed to rest their key rotation players, and Saturday’s matchup in Indiana was the perfect time to do it.
Kevin Durant leads the NBA in minutes and Royce O’Neale checks in second. Kyrie Irving is averaging 37 minutes per game, and the Nets have a handful of key rotation players — Seth Curry (ankle), TJ Warren (foot), Joe Harris (ankle), Ben Simmons (calf) — recovering from recent surgeries.
Saturday marked the team’s first blatant case of load management, a necessity for teams posturing for a deep playoff run even if the league frowns upon the practice.
The Nets listed Durant as out due to right knee injury management, Irving out with left adductor tightness and O’Neale out for personal reasons.
It’s all part of an effort, as the team has emphasized, to reach peak health for the end of the regular season into the playoffs. And that load management starts and ends with Durant, the perennial MVP-contending superstar whose shoulders carry the Nets’ championship odds.
Which is why the Nets’ victory over the Pacers was so significant — and so telling.
The Nets grabbed 29 offensive rebounds to Indiana’s seven and 59 total boards to 30. Cam Thomas scored a career-high 33 points. Patty Mills scored 21, Sumner got hot against his former team and scored 20, and Day’Ron Sharpe finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds.
Durant’s legs are priority No. 1 for a Nets team surging after a slow start to the season. He is averaging 30 points, 6.6 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game and uses 31% of the team’s offensive possessions.
