Brooklyn is finally in the win column, and its latest game could be the catalyst for an early-season run. 

On Sunday night, the Nets snapped their season-opening five-game losing streak with a 98-90 win over the Indiana Pacers. Securing their first win in Indiana, the Nets’ hopes for the season are suddenly much easier to focus on. 

Going into Sunday’s game, the Nets hadn’t looked like the team they were hoping to be this season. After a blowout loss against the Detroit Pistons on Friday night, the Nets’ five-game losing streak appeared to be adding some stress as they went through a tough early-season stretch. 

While the schedule didn’t exactly lighten up with a road game against the Pacers, the Nets did enough to escape with their first win of the new season. A 1-5 start isn’t ideal for the Nets, nor where they would’ve chosen to be through six games, but it looks a lot nicer after an 0-5 start. 

Luckily for the Nets, the season is still young, and losing a few games to begin the year can still be fixed quite easily. After Sunday’s win against the Pacers, the Nets moved back within one game of the play-in picture. 

With such little time for teams to separate themselves in the Eastern Conference standings up to this point, October was certainly the best time for the Nets to go on a five-game skid this season. Ideally, that will be the only time that happens, and it likely has to be the only time it happens if the Nets are going to find themselves in postseason contention come April. 

For now, the Nets should celebrate their first win of the season and regroup for the second night of a back-to-back. With a matchup at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks upcoming, the Nets have a clear opportunity to showcase they can compete with some of the league’s best and won’t be the same pushover they’ve been in recent years. 

After nearly getting an early signature win in Boston last week, the Nets will have a bit of a chance to redeem themselves and get an important victory. It won’t be easy for the Nets to walk into the Knicks’ home and secure a win, but their confidence should be high, and anything can happen on any given night in the NBA. 

The Nets still have another 76 games ahead of them, but getting a 1 in the win column is exactly what Brooklyn needed.