- 1 Brooklyn Nets vs Indiana Pacers: a four-point loss in Cleveland, then a 6:00pm tip-off with no rest
- 2 Brooklyn Nets: Porter Jr. and Randle are carrying a team that kept Cleveland to a one-possession game
- 3 Indiana Pacers: Haliburton’s return hasn’t fixed a defence that allowed 121 to Dallas
- 4 Free NBA Prediction: Brooklyn Nets vs Indiana Pacers
- 5 About our free predictions
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information changes
- 8 Your responsibility
- 9 Responsible gambling
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About visuals
Brooklyn Nets vs Indiana Pacers: a four-point loss in Cleveland, then a 6:00pm tip-off with no rest 
Brooklyn lost 125-121 in Cleveland on Saturday night, and it took Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley combining for 42 points to get the Cavaliers home. Michael Porter Jr. had 28 points, nine rebounds and four steals for the Nets, and Julius Randle added 23.
That’s the Nets team I’d look at before tonight, not the one that lost its home opener 110-103 to Charlotte on Wednesday. They’re 0-2, but they’ve now lost those two games by a combined 11 points.
Indiana comes to Barclays Center on Sunday 25 October, tip-off 6:00pm ET, at 1-1. The Pacers won 123-120 in New Orleans on opening night, with Tyrese Haliburton posting 23 points and 12 assists in his first game back, then lost 121-105 at home to Dallas.
The market has made Indiana a 6.5-point road favourite, with some books at 7.5. The Pacers are around 1.38 on the moneyline and the Nets around 3.15, and the total sits between 231.5 and 232.5.
Both of these teams were near the bottom of the league last season. Brooklyn went 20-62, Indiana went 19-63. A seven-point spread between them, on the evidence of two games each, asks the Pacers to have moved a long way in one summer.
The schedule is the honest case against Brooklyn. The Nets tipped off in Cleveland on Saturday evening and get roughly 22 hours before this one, while Indiana hasn’t played since Friday.
Brooklyn Nets: Porter Jr. and Randle are carrying a team that kept Cleveland to a one-possession game 
Porter Jr. averaged 24.2 points last season, and the start of this one looks the same. His 28 in Cleveland came with four steals, which isn’t a number he’s usually known for, and Brooklyn lost by a single possession on the road.
Randle, the summer’s big addition, averaged 21.1 points in Minnesota last season and scored 23 on Saturday, which gives Brooklyn two forwards who can create their own shot. Last season’s Nets scored 105.9 points a game, and they didn’t have either option on most nights.
Egor Demin runs the point, Day’Ron Sharpe starts at center, and Moe Wagner arrived from Orlando to back him up after Nic Claxton left for Chicago. That frontcourt is the obvious weak spot against Ivica Zubac.
Brooklyn conceded 115.9 points per game last season, and that number is the one I’m not convinced has changed. Cleveland scored 125 on them, and Charlotte had 110 in the opener.
On injuries, the Nets list only Tyler Bilodeau, out with a shoulder problem. Nobody else is expected to miss the game, tired legs aside.
The two openers also say something about the Nets’ ceiling on offence. They scored 103 against Charlotte and 121 in Cleveland, and the jump came with Randle and Porter Jr. both getting to 23 or more.
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Indiana Pacers: Haliburton’s return hasn’t fixed a defence that allowed 121 to Dallas 
Haliburton has 41 points and 19 assists across two games. After 23 and 12 in New Orleans, he followed up with 18 points, six rebounds and seven assists against Dallas, and he’s off the injury report for this one.
Dallas scored 121 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and Indiana’s 2025-26 defence allowed 120.4 points a game with opponents shooting 48.9% from the field. The New Orleans win also came after the Pacers gave up 120.
Pascal Siakam is still the main scorer, with his points line set at 23.5 tonight. Andrew Nembhard starts next to Haliburton, Kelly Oubre Jr. has come in from Philadelphia, and Zubac gives them a true center to put against Sharpe.
The bench is thinner than the starting five. Johnny Furphy is out for the season with a torn ACL, Ben Sheppard is dealing with a meniscus problem and T.J. McConnell is day-to-day with a hamstring issue. McConnell is the backup point guard, so his status matters if Haliburton’s minutes are managed.
Indiana won four of 12 games as a moneyline favourite last season. That’s a small sample from a lost year, but it’s the only record this group has in the role it’s being asked to play tonight.
This is also the Pacers’ first game against an Eastern Conference opponent this season. They’re ninth in the East after two games, and the next week is the stretch that decides whether last season’s 19 wins was an injury-hit outlier or something closer to the real level.
Probable lineup Brooklyn Nets: Egor Demin, K. Ellis, Michael Porter Jr., Julius Randle, Day’Ron Sharpe
Probable lineup Indiana Pacers: Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Pascal Siakam, Kelly Oubre Jr., Ivica Zubac
Free NBA Prediction: Brooklyn Nets vs Indiana Pacers
Our prediction: Brooklyn Nets +6.5 (1.95)
I’d take the points with Brooklyn. Indiana has given up 120 and 121 in its two games, and the Nets have two forwards scoring 23 or more on Saturday. That’s enough to keep this inside a possession or two for most of the night.
The back-to-back is the risk, and I won’t pretend otherwise. Brooklyn went 19-29-3 against the spread as an underdog of 7.5 or more last season, and this one comes on no rest. The difference is that this spread is priced as if the Pacers were a playoff team, and the only win they have came by three points in New Orleans.
A Pacers win by six or fewer still lands the bet. If the line moves back to 7.5 before tip-off, the extra point is worth taking.
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