This is the way the Nets defend when they focus. And this is the way they dominate when they defend. Both were impressive.

The Nets rolled to a 104-94 laugher over the Pacers that was nowhere near as close as the score seemed to indicate. The Nets led by 36 at one point and cruised at Barclays Center.

“They gave us everything we asked for, things that I’ve been talking about: Effort, fight, connectivity,” Nets coach Steve Nash said. “What I’ve been telling them, you can’t be having fun the way we were playing. So there was a lot of smiles, lot of joy, lot of passion for their teammates and their job. That’s something to build on.”

Whether it was just a one-off reaction to having their pride stung in Detroit the night before, or if the Nets actually have learned a lesson about consistency, it was auspicious.

“We got after it. We’re all on the same page from the beginning,” said James Harden, who had 19 points and 11 assists. “But you’ve got to have that mentality every single game to come in defensively. We want to shut teams up because offensively it’s easy for us.”

Kyrie Irving had a game-high 35 points and went a career-high 17-for-17 from the line. DeAndre Jordan, whose defense had come under fire, had 12 points and a season-high 13 rebounds while holding Indiana’s Myles Turner to three points and three boards. Turner also committed five fouls.

“In order for us to be a great team on both ends of the floor, especially defensively, everybody has to be connected. We put that together for as close to 48 minutes as I’ve seen in awhile from us,” Jordan said.

Said Joe Harris: “We were more locked-in, focused. Communication was there, effort was there and we were covering for one another. We haven’t played defense like that pretty much the entire season.”

The Nets (15-12) held Indiana to 39.1 percent shooting to snap a three-game skid, and they head into a five-game Western road swing on a positive note.

Jeff Green spoke up to his teammates after Tuesday’s loss to the Pistons and again during this one — and the Nets clearly responded.

“Jeff didn’t have to say a lot,” Harris said. “He just said, ‘Hey, what are we going to do? Are we going to figure this out? We’ve got to come together or we’re just going to keep having the same talk over and over again, where we lose and it’s the same obstacles why we lost. It’s something we’re doing to ourselves.’ It was short and sweet, but it was to the point.”

“Jeff’s old ass has been great,” Jordan said. “He’s a great veteran for us. He told us the truth. We need to come out and play like [this]. No team is gonna come and lay down because we’re the Brooklyn Nets. … But when we come out and play with aggression and respect the game as we did [Wednesday], we get results like this.”

The Nets led 27-18 after a first quarter during which they held Indiana to just 7-for-22 shooting.

There was Harden diving on the floor for a loose ball to get a timeout. And there was Irving fighting against three Pacers to come up with an offensive rebound and drawing a foul.

With the Nets clinging to a 32-25 edge with 8:39 left in the half, they forced six straight misses and blew the game open with a 15-0 run.

Jordan’s tip-in put them ahead 47-25 after the Nets had held the Pacers scoreless for over four minutes.

Even with a 53-29 lead, the Nets were like sharks sensing blood. They closed the half on a 9-1 spurt to go into the locker room up 62-30. It was the biggest halftime lead — and second-fewest points first-half points surrendered — of the franchise’s Brooklyn era.

By the time Irving hit a technical free throw, it was 69-33 early in the third.

Even after the Pacers cut it to 76-60 on a Domantas Sabonis jumper, the Nets never came close to letting the Pacers back in it. The Nets led by 20 to close the third quarter, and cruised through the fourth.