The Brooklyn Nets had a chance to get their first win during Sunday's home matchup against the Indiana Pacers. Instead, they rolled over in an embarrassing 136-109 defeat during the second night of a back-to-back.
Jordi Fernandez's squad opened the game with its best defensive quarter of the season, jumping out to a 26-24 lead while grabbing seven steals. However, Indiana outscored them 112-83 over the final three periods. Brooklyn allowed Indiana to shoot 28-of-42 (67%) on twos and 21-of-43 (49%) on threes during the loss.
“The performance we put up after the first quarter was just unacceptable. [Giving up] 112 points in three quarters, you’re not winning basketball games. So it didn’t feel good on either end of the floor,” said head coach Jordi Fernández. “And I’m the first one [to take responsibility]. I have to help them better… [It was] just disconnection, full-on, everything: from the spacing to the plays that we run, to the communication on pick-and-rolls, to multiple efforts, to being disappointed with a mistake and dropping your shoulders. All those things are losing things, and now we did not look like a winning team out there.”
While Brooklyn has looked subpar on both ends, the team's porous defense has made it hard to stay competitive as games progress. The Nets gave up 110 points to a Hornets team without Kon Knueppel and Coby White in their season opener. They couldn't mount a 22-point comeback in a 125-121 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday.
Sunday's loss to the Pacers was the Nets' worst defensive performance to date.
Fernandez has run an aggressive defensive scheme, pressuring ball screens and handoffs to force turnovers and disrupt the opposing offense's rhythm. This requires the Nets to rotate and recover to new matchups when they don't force turnovers. They haven't been able to execute the halfcourt coverages so far, showing poor effort, miscommunication, and frequently giving up wide-open looks. Their transition defense has also left much to be desired.
Nets' defensive struggles holding team back through first three games of season
The Nets have allowed opponents to post a 60.5 effective field goal percentage, the NBA's second-worst mark. Much of that damage has come from the three-point line. Brooklyn is allowing 23.3 wide-open threes per game, the most in the NBA. Opponents are shooting 50.0 percent on those looks.
A telling Nets defensive stat through three games:
The Nets are giving up 23.3 wide-open threes per game (6+ feet of space), the most in the NBA. Opponents are shooting 50% on those looks.
Brooklyn has been on the bad end of opponent shooting variance, but the looks have been… pic.twitter.com/CEcfS6XIlw
— Erik Slater (@ErikSlater_) October 26, 2026
While the Nets have limited rim attempts (29.0 per game – eighth-fewest in the NBA), they're letting opponents shoot 69.0 percent, the league's fourth-worst mark, per Synergy.
“I mean, the way we play at the level, when you have good passers like Tyrese [Haliburton] that are able to hit the pocket, we are at a disadvantage on that back end,” Michael Porter said postgame on Sunday. “We want to get deflections and speed teams up, but we're at a disadvantage. So, we got to be really on our horse to scramble and get to shooters and close out and try to take guys off the three-point line. Because a lot of times we are playing four-on-three, and we've got to get out of that situation and scramble a little bit better.”
The Nets haven't looked up to that challenge in terms of effort or skill set. Brooklyn's center duo, Day'Ron Sharpe and Moe Wagner, have struggled to guard on switches or recover to new matchups when scrambling. Porter and Julius Randle have looked disinterested for extended stretches. Meanwhile, supporting pieces such as Egor Demin and Noah Clowney have struggled to make an impact.
“In the NBA, you got to give up something. But we obviously aren't doing a good job, Porter said. “Our job is to impact the ball, make it hard to hit the pocket, but teams are getting to the pocket easy, and once it's in the pocket, they're finding shooters and cutters. And then a lot of it's also in transition. We got to, um, I think against teams like [Indiana], you've got to be ready to get back instead of crash because they're getting the ball and they're running. Whether it's a make or miss, they're going. Sometimes we're crashing the offensive glass. Sometimes better just to get back.”
Article Continues BelowAsked MPJ what he feels is causing the Nets to struggle defensively:
"The way we play at the level, when you have good passers that are able to hit the pocket, we are at a disadvantage on that back end. We want to get deflections and speed teams up, but we're at a disadvantage.… pic.twitter.com/TS8VmQxLzn
— Erik Slater (@ErikSlater_) October 26, 2026
Randle said the Nets need to communicate better.
“The biggest [problem] is our communication. We’re just not all on the same page,” said Randle. “We’ve got to find a way to communicate better, respect communication amongst each other. If a guy calls something, we’ve got to honor the call. But whatever it is, we’ve just got to communicate on that end because we do a lot of switching. So if we’re going to do a little switching, we’ve got to be communicating, and guys have got to know what the other guy’s doing. We’ve got to be on a string. We haven’t been so far.”
The Nets' schedule isn't getting any easier, with matchups against the Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons, Pacers and New York Knicks on deck. Fernandez said it's on him to figure out how to get more out of his group defensively.
“I'm not going to blame my players. I'm going to blame myself,” the coach said following Sunday's loss. “I'm not going to tell them that what I'm telling them to do is great and they [aren't] doing it. So whatever it is, I got to do a better job. The drills that we do [and the other] things that the coaches do a great job [with in practice], it's got to translate on the court. Right now, it's not translating. So, I've got to figure out why.”