Nets lose season opener 140-131 to Pacers

The Brooklyn Nets lost their season opener by a score of 140-131 Wednesday night in Indiana.

Yes, you read that correctly. The Brooklyn Nets let up 140 points to the Indiana Pacers. We knew that defense was going to be a problem coming into this season, but last night showed how severe the problem may be.

Indiana had eight players reach double figures with Victor Oladipo leading the way with 22 points.

The Nets were inept covering the pick and roll. Brooklyn played underneath screens and continuously let up wide open mid range jump shots and even layups.

Brooklyn was extremely undersized and struggled to cover the Indiana big men. Timofey Mozgov played just 14 minutes and Jarrett Allen did not play. The Nets played the majority of the game with Trevor Booker, who is just 6'8", as their tallest player on the floor.

Booker scored 20 points and shot 7-10 from the field, but was simply overmatched on the defensive end as the trio of Myles Turner (21),Thaddeus Young (17), and Domantas Sabonis (16) combined for 54 points.

Brooklyn could not take care of the ball which did not aid in their defensive woes. The Nets turned the ball over 20 times.

To make matters worse the Nets lost Jeremy Lin to what appears to be a serious knee injury. Lin broke down in tears and was carried to the locker room following an awkward landing while driving to the basket.

One positive that could be taken away from an ugly loss was the performance of D'Angelo Russell. Russell shined in his Nets debut, scoring 30 points and making 12 of 22 field goal attempts. Russell's 30 points tied Nate

Archibald for the most points ever scored in a Nets debut.

It is now back to the drawing board for Kenny Atkinson. Brooklyn must find a way to cover the pick and roll and make up for its lack of size if they want to have any hope of being competitive this season.

The Nets look to bounce back as they travel back to Brooklyn for their home opener against the Orlando Magic Friday night.