PHOENIX — Devin Booker scored 33 points, Dillon Brooks scored 32 to lead the Suns to a 133-98 win over the Pacers, who suffered another significant injury with forward Aaron Nesmith going down in at the Mortgage Matchup Center on Thursday night.
The Pacers lost their sixth straight game fell, to 1-11, matching the 1988-89 team for the worst start in franchise history. The Suns have won five straight.
Oso Ighodoro added 17 points for the Suns. Andrew Nembhard led the Pacers with 21 points and Pascal Siakam added 19.
Pacers shredded by shot-making of Devin Booker, Dillon Brooks
The Pacers seemed to bring more defensive fight to their game Thursday night than they did Tuesday when they gave up 152 points to the Jazz. Utah kept getting wide-open looks and easy layups while Phoenix usually had to at least shoot over good contests or go through people to get to the rim.
But Phoenix did such an excellent job of hitting shots over outstretched hands and going through bodies that their offensive numbers were almost as good.
Guards Devin Booker and Dillon Brooks were particularly sensational in that regard, combining for 65 points on 24 of 40 shooting between them. They were a combined 6 of 17 from beyond the arc but also excellent on mid-range jumpers and floaters. Booker finished with 33 points on 12 of 22 shooting including 3 of 10 from 3-point range. Brooks was 12 of 18 from the field and 3 of 7 from 3.
The Suns finished 49 of 85 from the floor, 13 of 35 from 3 for 1.36 points per possession. They scored at least 27 points each quarter.
Pacers, wounded again, fall apart on offense
Aaron Nesmith appeared to just be getting into a rhythm to start the third quarter when he turned his left knee and had to crawl off the floor, giving the Pacers yet another injury in a season wrecked by them.
The Pacers were already in bad shape offensively, and without their best 3-point shooter, they were even worse. They had a good offensive stretch early in the third but the Suns answered with a dominant run late in the period and when the fourth quarter began the Pacers simply couldn’t score at all. They didn’t get a point on the board until rookie guard Taelon Peter hit a 3 with 5:50 to go in the fourth. They ended up being outscored 27-14 in the period, shooting 5 of 24 from the floor.
For the game, the Pacers finished 32 of 88 from the floor, 7 of 25 from 3-point range for their second-worst offensive performance of the season, just barely better than Sunday’s 84-point performance in a loss to Golden State.
Tony Bradley and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl giving Pacers production
Tony Bradley and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl were both originally brought to the Pacers on 10-day contracts. Bradley was picked up on one last year just after the trade deadline to give the Pacers a third center and he managed to stay for the rest of the season and into this one. Robinson-Earl signed his second hardship exception contract Tuesday which gives him at least another eight days on the roster.
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle has liked their energy and size enough to put both in the starting lineup, first on Tuesday and then again on Thursday. There are limits to what each can do, especially on the offensive end, but both are giving the Pacers rebounding, defense, and buckets around the rim.
Bradley scored 10 points on 5 of 7 shooting on Thursday, hitting double figures for the second time this season. He also grabbed three rebounds. Robinson-Earl meanwhile scored the first two buckets of the game on stickbacks off offensive rebounds and finished with six points and seven rebounds.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers lose another blowout and player, this time it’s Aaron Nesmith
Reporting by Dustin Dopirak, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
