NETS GAMENIGHT: #Nets @ #Pacers
Brooklyn Nets (46-32) @ Indiana Pacers (49-29)
Bankers Life Fieldshouse 7:00
TV: YES – RADIO: Bloomberg 1130AM
The Nets are coming off a solid road win in Beantown Wednesday night when they beat the Boston Celtics 104-93 to garner their 22nd road win of the year. The score did not tell the story of how dominant the Nets were as the starters got a rest for much of the fourth quarter as Brooklyn put the game away.
The Nets Big 3 scored 70 points led by Deron Williams 29 points and 12 assists. Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson combined for 41 points and Reggie Evans did his thing grabbing 14 rebounds and keeping Kevin Garnett in check. The game belonged to D-Will from the beginning as he got Avery Bradley in foul trouble four minutes into the game and attacked anyone who was put in front of him. Gerald Wallace left the game in the second with a leg injury and was replaced by Jerry Stackhouse who filled in nicely with seven points, four rebounds and three assists in his 21 minutes of extended play.
[blockquote]”I mean this was a big win for us and I think these next five games we’ll be able to tell where we’re at too. We’ve been up and down a lot this season but these last two wins have been something to build on so hopefully we can not take any more steps back and just keep moving forward.” said Deron Williams[/blockquote]
The Celtics did not take kindly to the thumping on their home court and got quite chippy as the Nets poured it on in the second half. Garnett and Kris Humphries had a couple of elbows thrown as the game got away from Boston but no technicals were called. Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 23 points and no other player scored more than 11 points while Boston shot 45 percent from the field and turned it over 13 times.
The Nets flew into Indiana for tonight’s final meeting with the Pacers and will go for the season sweep after taking the first two games. This game will be a good measuring stick to see how the nets hold up this late in the season against the number three seed Pacers. This could be a future playoff matchup. Indiana won its first Central Division title since 2003-04 on Tuesday night behind Paul George, who scored 14 points to help the Pacers overcome a 20-point deficit in a win over Cleveland.
MATCHUP OF THE GAME: Reggie Evans vs David West
Reggie Evans has been a monster in the last month and a half and has nine games of 20 rebounds or more leading the NBA. The NBA leader in rebounds per 48 minutes is on a roll lately and not just rebounding. Evans has been more offensive minded and has averaged almost 10 points per game in his last 13 games. The last few weeks have been some of the best basketball of Evans career and he doesn’t look to be slowing down at all.
STAT FOR TONIGHT: Brooklyn has swept seven opponents in the season series this season with the potential to sweep three more (Indiana, Toronto and Detroit).
Nets:
Gerald Wallace (leg contusion ) is OUT