Back On Track
Led by a career game from point guard Devin Harris, the New Jersey Nets finally got their offense on track on Friday night in an impressive win over a strong defensive team.
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They may find it even easier to score against the Indiana Pacers.
Oddsmakers from SBG Global have made Pacers –6.5 point spread favorites (NBA Odds) for today’s game, the over/under has been set at 199 (View Matchup). Current public betting information shows that 56% of bets for this game have been placed on Pacers –6.5 (View NBA Bet Percentages).
New Jersey will try to take the momentum from its first home win to Indianapolis, where the Pacers will try to tighten their defense on Saturday in a matchup of former Eastern Conference powers who’ve fallen upon difficult times.
After winning their season opener on the road, the Nets (2-2) shot a combined 38 percent from the field in losing their first two home games against Golden State and Phoenix, and things didn’t figure to get any easier with the Pistons coming to town on Friday.
But in Allen Iverson’s first game with Detroit, New Jersey bounced back for a 103-96 win despite trailing by 13 points after the first quarter. Harris scored a career-high 38 points, shooting 20-of-24 from the free throw line, while Josh Boone added 18 points and 14 rebounds.
"It was just about playing hard," Harris said. "We didn’t get off to the best start. We have been really struggling in the third quarter but tonight we came out with more aggressiveness. Points for me didn’t matter. It was all about the win. We desperately needed this for our confidence’s sake."
While the Nets were earning their big home victory, the Pacers were on the road trying – unsuccessfully – to keep up with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, who scored 40 fourth-quarter points to beat Indiana 111-107.
Since their 95-79 win over Boston last Saturday, the Pacers (1-3) have allowed a pair of opponents to average 112.0 points and shoot a combined 54 percent from the field. Their 105.4 points allowed per game in 2007-08 was the most in the East.
While Phoenix’s Amare Stoudemire had 49 points in the Suns’ 113-103 win at Conseco Fieldhouse on Wednesday, James scored 27 and added nine rebounds and eight assists in Friday’s game, during which the Pacers had 24 turnovers.
On the bright side for Indiana, Danny Granger scored 33 points for the second time this season Friday, and the standout forward is averaging 27.3 points on 52 percent shooting through four games.
"He’s become a go-to guy," James said. "He’s started to grow and play the game with more confidence. He’s a very good player. He’s become one of the best small forwards in our league."
The Pacers’ schedule will also get a bit easier starting Saturday after the team’s first four games were against 2008 playoff teams, including three versus teams that were among the top four in East.
The Nets, who will face Indiana twice in the next five days, had reached the postseason six straight seasons before last spring, going to the NBA finals twice and winning at least one series five times over that span. But they’ve traded away Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson in the last year and are hoping to rebuild following a 34-48 season in which they lost 23 of their final 27 road games.
Indiana, meanwhile, is in the same situation, having missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons after nine straight appearances.
After the Nets swept four games from Indiana in 2006-07, the home team won all four games in last season’s series, with neither club having much trouble scoring. Each team averaged 111.0 points against the other in 2007-08.
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