Echo of Jeremy Lin’s Glory Days as Nets Win Home Opener

Jeremy Lin’s work for the Nets began about five minutes before the tip. He grabbed a microphone and thanked the fans at Barclays Center for coming to the Nets’ home opener on Friday against the Indiana Pacers. The crowd cheered. The building was brimming with hope.

That feeling persisted throughout the evening as Lin darted through the lane, dropped bounce passes to open teammates and, in the closing seconds, found his coach. The game turned into an unexpected celebration as the Nets — unsung and inexperienced — engineered a 103-94 victory over the Pacers.

Lin finished with 21 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists. Brook Lopez added 25 points, and Sean Kilpatrick came off the bench and ignited the Nets (1-1) in the second half. Kilpatrick, who scored 18 points, made consecutive 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to help the Nets erase a 7-point deficit.

Lin concluded the festivities by handing the game ball to Kenny Atkinson, the team’s first-year coach.

“I better not see him play with that ball,” Lin said. “It’s been a long journey. There’s been a lot of peaks and valleys, and me and Kenny shared a lot of that journey together.”

After an extended preseason and three home exhibitions, the game marked the super-official return of Lin to New York, and he made it count. He thoroughly outplayed the Pacers’ Jeff Teague, who finished with 4 points and shot 2 of 13 from the field. Paul George had 22 points in the loss. The Pacers shot 37.8 percent over all.

“It’s just nice to see your work pay off, and we’ve been working a lot on defense,” Atkinson said.

Lin, of course, is still best known for his 35-game burst as the sudden star of the Knicks during the 2011-12 season. Four seasons of mostly solid production followed with the Houston Rockets, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Charlotte Hornets. Over the summer, he signed a three-year, $36 million contract to return to New York — this time, with the Nets.

The days of true Linsanity may be gone, but Lin still has a huge following and a more mature game. Atkinson is entrusting him to help lead a young group of players. Perhaps the best that the Nets can hope for this season is to be competitive on a consistent basis.

Then again, they had grander ambitions against the Pacers despite missing their first eight 3-point attempts and trailing by as many as 10 points in the first quarter.

Brooklyn surged in the second quarter. Lin zigzagged through traffic, sending a behind-the-back pass to Kilpatrick for a fast-break dunk, and later put the Nets ahead by 5 with a 3-pointer from the top of the key. They went into halftime with a 52-48 lead.

But amid an avalanche of missed jumpers and shoddy passing, the Nets let their momentum slide as they shot 35 percent from the field in the third quarter. They also committed eight turnovers, and the Pacers took a 79-72 lead into the fourth. The Nets were going to need a determined effort to mount a comeback. They delivered.

The Nets were two days removed from a 122-117 loss to the Boston Celtics on the road in their season opener. In that game, Lopez played a limited role, shooting 1 of 7 from the field and scoring 7 points in 21 minutes.

Lopez often received the ball far from the basket, and Atkinson said before Friday’s game that Lopez was still acclimating to the team’s motion offense. As the season goes on, Atkinson said, the goal is that Lopez will find ways to better position himself on the block, and that his teammates will recognize more opportunities to get him the ball.

They took steps toward that end against the Pacers. Lopez still took four 3-point attempts — he missed all four, the crowd groaning whenever he lined one up — but he also planted himself near the basket and shot 10 of 18 from the field.

“I just think it’s going to be a gradual process,” Atkinson said, adding: “It’s going to be a good balance with Brook. It’s all about balance because he’s supremely skilled.”

Atkinson does not appear to have illusions about the season ahead. The Nets are not contenders. It is all about development, but Atkinson does plan to lean on Lin as a source of stability. Atkinson was an assistant coach with the Knicks at the height of Linsanity, and their relationship was an important factor — the most important factor — in their reunion this season, and beyond.

“For us to be able to be here today and to do this together, it’s special,” Lin said. “It means a lot to me.”