Player of the Game
BRANDON RUSH
Produced one of his best all-around games of the season off the bench with 16 points on 5-of-5 shooting, adding six rebounds and five assists in 34 minutes.
Plus-Minus
Name Game Season
Diener DNP -5
Dunleavy +6 -38
Ford DNP -203
Foster DNP -9
Granger +18 -34
Hansbrough -4 -55
Head 0 +35
Hibbert +11 -54
D. Jones -5 -162
S. Jones +7 -121
McRoberts DNP -9
Murphy +12 -207
Price +7 +20
Rush +19 -91
Watson +9 -49
Noteworthy
  • Luther Head left the game early in the first quarter with a left ankle sprain. He returned briefly in the second quarter but did not play in the second half and is doubtful for Saturday's game.
  • The Pacers made double-figure 3-pointers (13) for the fifth consecutive game.
  • After scoring 70 in the second half against the Suns Wednesday night, the Pacers scored 72 in the first half against the Nets. They outscored their opponents 142-98 in that four-quarter span.
  • Pacers Coach Jim O'Brien had to wear shower shoes with his suit due to a broken toe that swelled on the flight from Indianapolis.
    • Hustle Board
    Points in the paint:
    Pacers 40, Nets 30
    Fast-break points:
    Nets 21, Pacers 15
    Second-chance points:
    Nets 14, Pacers 7
    Points off turnovers:
    Nets 16, Pacers 12
    Starters scoring:
    Nets 77, Pacers 74
    Bench scoring:
    Pacers 47, Nets 28
    Stat of the Night
    The only time the Pacers played a team with a worse record than the Nets' 3-35 was in Feb. 5, 1993, when they lost 105-104 to a Dallas team that brought a 3-38 record into the game. The Mavs were coached by current Pacers TV analyst Quinn Buckner.
    Up Next
    The Pacers return home to face the New Orleans Hornets Saturday (6 p.m., Fox Sports Indiana, 1070 The Fan) in Conseco Fieldhouse. Please note, the start time has been moved to 6 p.m. to accommodate fans wishing to see the Colts-Ravens NFL playoff game later that night.
    Related links
  • Blog replay
  • Video
  • Box score
  • Recap
    • END RESULT
    After his team had to overcome deficits of 23 and 24 points to win their previous two games, Pacers Coach Jim O'Brien said, "One of these days, we're going to get a lead."

    He didn't have to wait long.

    The Pacers piled up 72 points and a 20-point halftime margin and cruised to a 121-105 victory over the Nets before 13,656 in IZOD Center.

    Danny Granger scored 22 of his game-high 28 in the first half. Troy Murphy scored 21 with 14 rebounds and Brandon Rush hit all five of his shots off the bench and scored 15.

    IMPACT
    The Pacers won their third in a row to improve to 14-25 overall. They also snapped a nine-game road losing streak with their first road win since Dec. 12. The Pacers are 5-3 in January. The Nets lost their seventh in a row to fall to 3-36 overall, 2-17 at home.

    QUOTEWORTHY
  • "When we stopped fouling (in the second quarter) we went on a very nice run and put a lot of distance between us and them." – Jim O'Brien.
  • "I'm very happy with the fact that we're continuing to shoot the three really well." – O'Brien.
  • "We have a very unselfish basketball team. It's always good for a coach to see guys that really don't care who scores and make the extra pass." – O'Brien.
  • "It’s a change considering our last two wins we had to come back by more than 20. This game was a good one in the respect that we blew the game open and we kept the lead throughout the whole thing and we didn’t let up." – Danny Granger on building a 20-point first-half lead.
  • “You know, we’re a scrappy team and unfortunately these types of games we start off kind of slow but we came back and won the game. Its nice to get that cushion and be able to build off that type of lead, instead of having to fight back in these types of games.” – Roy Hibbert.
  • "I had confidence all the time. I just had to find a way to get some shots up. Tonight I finally got hot." – Brandon Rush.
  • "They do a good job of reading the screen and popping back and they are ready to shoot. They are not open for long but the shots that they made were quick and they made us pay for the mistakes that we made." – Nets guard Devin Harris on the Pacers.

    KEY MOMENTS
    The Nets hung around most of the first half but the Pacers put together a 24-5 run to close the second quarter, sending them to the locker room with a 24-5 lead. Granger scored nine in the run, Earl Watson six and Rush five. The Nets opened the second half with a brief surge, cutting it to 16 but Rush scored eight in a row for the Pacers, including a pair of 3-pointers, to rebuild the lead to 84-62. The Nets would not threaten again.

    BY THE NUMBERS
    The Pacers shot .531 overall and were 13-of-23 (.565) from the 3-point line, racking up 34 assists on 43 field goals and outrebounding the Nets 42-39. Granger was 9-of-8 overall, 4-of-7 from the arc and had four assists and three rebounds to complement his 28 points. Murphy, who aggressively attacked the rim, was 8-of-12 overall and 2-of-4 from the arc.

    Rush hit all five of his shots, including three from the 3-point line, adding six rebounds and five assists to his 15 points. Mike Dunleavy had 14 and Roy Hibbert 12. The Pacers won the bench scoring battle for the 15th time in 16 games, 47-28.

    Brook Lopez led the Nets with 27 points on 9-of-16 shooting, adding seven rebounds. In three games against the Pacers he has averaged 26.0 points and 12.3 boards. Devin Harris scored 22 with nine assists. Yi Jianlian scored 17 with 10 rebounds and Kris Humphries scored 15 off the bench.

    The Nets shot 42 percent overall and outscored the Pacers 32-22 from the free-throw line but were outscored 39-15 from the 3-point line.


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