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Pacers, Nets hook up for second straight night

Feb 23, 2008 - 2:58 PM Indiana (22-33) at New Jersey (24-31) 7:30 pm EST

EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) - After a battle on Friday night, the Indiana Pacers and the New Jersey Nets should be plenty familiar with each other by the time they take the floor on Saturday.

After earning a home win on Friday, the Pacers will be trying to put more pressure on the Nets in the Eastern Conference playoff race when they travel to the IZOD Center on Saturday.

Mike Dunleavy scored 34 points on 11-of-20 shooting to lead Indiana to a 113-103 victory at Conseco Fieldhouse on Friday. The Pacers scored 35 points in the third quarter in the contest, exploiting the outside as the Nets struggle to adjust to perimeter defense in the post-Jason Kidd era.

"We played well in the third quarter, especially the last six minutes," Travis Diener said of Friday's game. "It's important that we carry this over to (Saturday) night. They'll come out hungry. They're still ahead of us in the standings, so (Saturday) night is very important."

With Kidd now in Dallas, second-year guard Marcus Williams has taken over as the starter at the point for New Jersey. Williams managed just five points and four assists while turning the ball over three times on Friday.

"It's not easy (dealing with the trade)," Nets forward Bostjan Nachbar said. "We have quite a few new guys in there and it's tough, especially on the defensive end. It's normal any time there is a trade of that magnitude and you get four guys trying to learn a new system. We can compensate by having good energy like we did last game (at Chicago). We didn't do that (Friday), and I think that's why we lost."

Indiana moved to within 1 1/2 games of Philadelphia (24-32) for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Nets are one-half game ahead of the 76ers, in seventh place in the East.