Nets at Pacers
The Brooklyn Nets were supposed to be right there with the Indiana Pacers in the top half of the Eastern Conference playoff scrum. Instead, the Pacers will be looking to add to the Nets’ miserable start when they host Brooklyn on Saturday. Indiana owns the top record in the East and crushed the Nets 103-86 on the road Monday before taking a long break for the holiday week.
Brooklyn did not get as much time off and has played two games since falling to the Pacers, suffering an embarrassing 95-78 home loss to the Chicago Bulls on Christmas Day before bouncing back with a 104-93 triumph over the lowly Milwaukee Bucks on Friday. The Nets assembled one of the highest-paid rosters in the league over the offseason with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce joining Brook Lopez, Deron Williams and Joe Johnson, but it was roster afterthoughts like Shaun Livingston and Mirza Teletovic doing most of the damage Friday. Brooklyn went to a small lineup without Lopez (foot) and could try to confound the bigger Pacers the same way.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBATV, YES (Brooklyn), FSN Indiana
ABOUT THE NETS (10-19): Instead of adding another big man to the starting lineup with Lopez (foot) down, Brooklyn pushed Livingston into the unit on Friday and gave Teletovic - a stretch power forward - plenty of minutes. The move was partly out of necessity due to Lopez’s injury and Andray Blatche (personal reasons) being out for four games while forward Andrei Kirilenko continues to deal with back issues. Blatche and Kirilenko are not expected to make the brutal three-game road trip through Indiana, San Antonio and Oklahoma City.
ABOUT THE PACERS (23-5): Paul George and Lance Stephenson scored 26 points apiece and Indiana limited Brooklyn to 38.2 percent shooting in Monday’s meeting. The easy win doesn’t mean the Pacers have any intention of letting up on Saturday. “It’s a little bit of a trap situation, where anytime you beat a team in their building and the next game is against that team in your building, then natural human instinct is to say, ‘Well, it’s going to be easier because we beat them there,’” coach Frank Vogel said. “It very rarely ends up that way.” Indiana is 13-1 in its own building.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Nets F Kevin Garnett (10), F Paul Pierce (13) and G Jason Terry (12) each scored in double figures in the same game on Friday for the first time since the three joined the team in the summer.
2. The road team has taken the last four in the series, with Brooklyn winning twice at the Pacers last season.
3. Indiana F Danny Granger is shooting 22.7 percent in three games since returning from a calf injury and went 0-for-7 in Monday’s matchup.