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Pacers visit North Jersey to face Nets

Jan 2, 2012 - 3:49 PM (Sports Network) - The Indiana Pacers tasted defeat for the first time this season the last time out and look to get back into the win column tonight against the New Jersey Nets.

The Pacers had won their first three games of the condensed season until losing at Detroit on Saturday in the opener of a four-game road trip. In the 96-88 setback, Tyler Hansbrough and George Hill had 16 points and five rebounds apiece in a losing cause.

Darren Collison ended with 15 points and eight assists, while Danny Granger and David West had 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the Pacers, who will also visit the Heat and Celtics on the current road swing.

"Hats off to Detroit, they were aggressive tonight," Pacers head coach Frank Vogel said. "[Jonas] Jerebko and [Greg] Monroe outplayed our frontcourt. They played a great game."

In injury news for Indiana, center Jeff Foster (back) and forward Jeff Pendergraph (knee) are both listed as doubtful for Monday's game.

New Jersey opened the new season with a win, but has dropped four in a row since then. It lost all three tests of a three-game road trip through Orlando, Atlanta and Cleveland, and sustained a 98-82 loss to the Cavaliers on Sunday.

Deron Williams led the Nets with 16 points, Anthony Morrow finished with 15 points. Sundiata Gaines and Kris Humphries totaled 11 points apiece for the Nets, who opened the campaign with a win over Washington.

"We had a tough second half," said New Jersey's Mehmet Okur, who had 10 points and eight boards. "We were a little late on our defensive rotation, we gave them easy fast break points, and hopefully we learn from it."

The Nets shot just 38 percent for the game and will hit the road to Boston and Toronto following this home tilt versus the Pacers.

New Jersey lost all three meetings with Indiana a season ago and is winless in the past seven matchups between the two clubs. The Pacers are unbeaten in their last five trips to the Garden State.