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Nets-Pacers Preview

Dec 10, 2009 - 6:32 PM By KATE HEDLIN STATS Writer

New Jersey (2-20) at Indiana (6-13), 7:00 p.m. EDT

When these teams met last month, the Indiana Pacers were rolling and the New Jersey Nets were winless.

Since then, it's the Nets who have managed to put together more wins than the Pacers.

Indiana tries to stop a six-game losing streak when it hosts New Jersey on Friday.

After an 0-3 start, the Pacers (6-13) won five straight, a streak capped by a 91-83 victory over the Nets (2-20) on Nov. 17.

The defeat was part of New Jersey's 0-18 start - the worst in league history - but the Nets have recovered to win two of their last four games.

The Pacers, meanwhile, have since lost 10 of 11. Now they'll try to avoid their longest losing streak since dropping seven in a row Jan. 23-Feb. 5, 2008.

Indiana fell 102-91 to Portland on Wednesday, four nights after scoring a season-low 72 points in a loss to the Clippers. The Pacers came back from an 11-point deficit Wednesday to tie the game at 83 with eight minutes to play, but ended up being held to 16 points in the fourth quarter.

Dahntay Jones scored 19 points and rookie Tyler Hansbrough added 13 points and 11 rebounds for Indiana, which got to the free throw line a season-low 17 times.

"It's back to the drawing board," Jones said. "Losing is not fun."

The Pacers have shot 39.7 percent over the last three games while averaging 83.3 points. Wednesday's game was their first since losing leading scorer Danny Granger for at least a month with a torn right plantar fascia.

The Pacers will try to get their offense going against a Nets team allowing an average of 105.0 points over its last seven games.

New Jersey still has the league's worst record but beat Charlotte last Friday for its first victory and won at Chicago on Tuesday. The Nets, though, failed to build on their first road win, losing 105-89 to Golden State on Wednesday.

New Jersey made 22 turnovers, leading to 30 Golden State points, and was held to 62 points over the final three quarters.

"We made a lot of mental mistakes tonight," point guard Devin Harris said. "We got a little bit careless with the ball and that led to a lot of uncontested layups and we kind of dug ourselves a hole."

While Brook Lopez led the team with 21 points and 10 rebounds, Harris had 19 points but shot 4 of 11 and missed part of the first quarter after being poked in the eye.

New Jersey was 1 of 10 from 3-point range and is shooting a league-worst 26.6 percent beyond the arc.

The Pacers have won four of five against the Nets, with the only loss coming at home when Harris hit a jumper at the buzzer to give New Jersey a 108-107 victory Dec. 23.