Nets 89 – Pacers 84

The Pacers went down low to Roy Hibbert right away to try to establish a presence inside. Brook Lopez was up for the challenge and the Nets moved the ball well early with Lopez scoring six quick points. Both teams started out shooting less than 30 percent midway through the first until the Nets hit a couple baskets to get them over 40 percent. Lopez dominated the quarter with 10 points and Gerald Wallace had five rebounds to pace an Nets 20-13 first quarter lead.

Tyshawn Taylor got some playing time and blew by the Pacers guards and put paint pressure on the defense immediately. The tempo by the Nets was much faster and something that hasn’t happened all year. Jeff Pendegraph came off the bench to give the Pacers 10 quick points in six minutes hitting five jump shots. Pacers went on an extended 11-1 run to get within a field goal midway through the second. The Nets then missed seven straight shots and allowed the Pacers to take a 34-30 lead. The Nets usual bad second quarter haunted them as they were outscored 27-15 and only Lopez 14 points saved them from being blown out. Reggie Evans grabbed 10 rebounds for Brooklyn. The brick building session ended with the Pacers shooting 34 percent to the Nets 36 percent and the Pacers leading 40-35 at half.

Lopez opened the second half with two beautiful one on one moves to score and start a 7-2 run. David West returned from a scratched eye by Lopez to force the issue inside. Wallace forced George into missing 8 out of his first 9 shots with great defense. The Nets again missed nine straight shots to make it hard on themselves. Lopez once again was the focal point and came through with nine third quarter points to help the Nets take the quarter 23-14 to take a four point lead into the final quarter.

Taylor played solid minutes and started the fourth with Brooks and Mirza Teletovic. Taylor got to the cup at will and create issues for George Hill and the Pacers bigs. Wallace continued his strong offensive game to go with his defensive effort against George. Nets took a 68-62 lead with this group halfway through the quarter. The Pacers came right back with a 7-2 run to make it 70-69 Nets. Missed layups hurt the Nets late and the Pacers grabbed a 76-72 lead with 1:38 left. Evans had two free throws to get the Nets within a basket but missed one to make it 76-73 with one minute remaining. Nets came back with great execution to force overtime and make the Pacers shoot contested jumpers. They held them scoreless the last 1:03 of regulation to force overtime at 76-76.

[blockquote]P.J. – Tyshawn was just doing good things. Tyshawn was breaking down the defense and if he looked shaky or didn’t look good I wouldn’t have gone back to him. Tyshawn is like MarShon (Brooks) in that he likes situations like this and he is not scared of big situations. He doesn’t act like a rookie.[/blockquote]

OT – Taylor with a career high in minutes/scoring with over 30 minutes 12 points along with two huge baskets in overtime. Wallace drained a big corner three to make it 83-79 with 1:40 left. Free throws sealed the game for the Nets and Taylor had his “Welcome to the NBA” moment playing the final 24 minutes to guide the Nets to a 89-84 conference road win.

GAME CHANGER: Tyshawn Taylor entered the game with seven minutes left in the third and changed the momentum and pace of the game for the Nets and did not come off the court through overtime. Taylor had career highs in minutes (34) and points (12) to go with two rebounds and two important assists.

STAT OF THE GAME: The Nets tied and NBA regulation low this season with only nine assists. It is only the second time since 1986 that a team had just nine assists and won in overtime.

[quote_box]P.J. – Tyshawn (Taylor) was unbelievable and Brook (Lopez) was really big but I thought the difference in the game was the defensive effort by Gerald (Wallace) and Reggie (Evans) making guys work. You don’t stop those guy sand you make them work. (George and West 3-21)[/quote_box]