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Pacers clip Nets for second time in a week

Nov 13, 2008 - 6:17 AM EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- T.J. Ford led a balanced offense and the Indiana Pacers again got the better of the New Jersey Nets with a 98-87 victory on Wednesday.

Ford scored 18 points for the Pacers, who had six players score in double figures and are on a three-game win streak that includes a pair of wins over the Nets.

Ford added eight rebounds and nine assists for Indiana, which knocked off New Jersey, 98-80, on Saturday.

"Everybody's stepping up to the plate. We have a lot of chemistry that we continue to build on," Ford said. "Good teams have to get wins on the road. I'm just going out and playing."

Marquis Daniels and Jeff Foster scored 16 points, Jarrett Jack added 13, Stephen Graham netted 12 and Rasho Nesterovic finished with 10 for the Pacers.

"It was the second win in a row we were shorthanded," Pacers coach Jim O'Brien said. "Tonight without three of our starters we played another gutsy game. We pressured the ball well and ran well. The last three wins, our turnovers are way down and we are continuing to attack and get good shots. Our guys are playing really hard. A coach can't ask anything more from a player than to compete."

Vince Carter had 28 points and seven assists for New Jersey, which had a four-game home win streak vs. Indiana snapped.

"The energy and effort was lacking. It was unacceptable," Carter said. "We can't put ourselves in a hole and expect to win that way. It's important that everyone gets going. Collectively, we have to outhustle and outexecute teams."

While Ford has been giving the Pacers solid play at the point of late, the Nets have been struggling without starter Devin Harris.

With Harris sidelined again with a sprained ankle, the Nets turned the ball over 18 times and watched the Pacers convert them into 25 points. New Jersey is now 0-3 since Harris has been out.

"We started the game in a low spirit and energy level. In the first quarter there were 14 shots we didn't contest," Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. "It took us a long time to get into the game. We never got into a good offensive rhythm, and we just got a little frantic. We're shooting a lot of jump shots and losing our way a little bit. Disappointing game."

However, Indiana is dealing with injuries of its own and used balance to overcome them on Wednesday. Danny Granger was out with a quad injury and Troy Murphy missed the game with the flu. Mike Dunleavy has yet to play a game this season with a knee injury.

"Everybody came in and played well, Steve (Graham) played well, Brandon (Rush) stepped in as a last minute starter," Daniels said. "Everyone played great. Jeff (Foster) stepped in and he's instant offense right now hitting jump shots from everywhere."

Jarvis Hayes scored 15 points and Yi Jianlian added 11 and eight rebounds for the Nets.

Indiana led by seven points at the half and was up 69-59 heading into the fourth.

New Jersey fought back to within 76-71 before Jack hit a 3-pointer and Daniels added a dunk to make it 81-71 with just under seven minutes to play.