Game 31 Preview: Nets (8-22) at Indiana Pacers (17-12)

With his breakout play and athleticism he has shown in his sophomore NBA season, Paul George has established himself as one of the better young small forwards currently in the league.

Update: Danny Granger will play for the Pacers and Shawne Williams will be out for the second straight night for the Nets, according to Mike Mazzeo.


After a disheartening loss to the Memphis Grizzlies last night in NJ, the Nets look to snap a season-high seven-game losing streak against the team that has had their number in recent meetings, the Indiana Pacers. Indiana is also mired in a season-long losing which currently stands at five game and the Pacers are also coming off a brutal loss last night, which was against the subpar Cleveland Cavaliers. The difference between Indiana and the Nets, two teams playing their worst ball of the season right now, is that the Pacers have depth while the Nets do not as Indiana can run out around nine suitable rotation players every game while the Nets are lucky to get five solid (and healthy) players per game.

Background on Indiana 

The Pacers, widely considered a darkhorse contender in the East, are one of the most team-oriented clubs in the NBA as they draw most of their success from their extreme depth rather than the talents of one specific star player. In previous years when Indiana wasn't as good on the court, small forward Danny Granger, who is day-to-day for tonight's game, acted as the team's de-facto star. However, in recent years, Granger has taken a bit of a step back on the offensive end of the floor in order to help the rest of the team develop as a cohesively strong unit that can win a lot of games and even make waves in the playoffs. Disregarding the current losing streak, Indiana is a very dangerous team mainly because of their massive depth and the talented players that make up that depth.

Previous Game
Similarly to the Nets, the Pacers lost a brutal game last night as they fell to their divisional foe Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena. Without the services of Granger and backups George Hill and Jeff Foster, Indiana just couldn't get going on offense leading to a poor team shooting percentage of 37 percent for the game. Cleveland was exactly 10 percentage points better from the field which they used to build a big, early 12-point lead in the 1st quarter that the Pacers just couldn't overcome with a play like Danny Granger not available. 

New Jersey was able to hang with the upstart Memphis Grizzlies in Newark last night but simply weren't able to hold a 91-86 lead they had late in the 4th quarter. Deron Williams and Marshon Brooks, who both played much better in the first half of the game, suffered from a case of turnoveritis in the game's waning minutes, as each player committed two crucial turnovers leading to Memphis points inside of three minutes to go in the final quarter. The Nets sorely missed an interior rebounding presence as the Grizzlies, especially Marreese Speights, torched the offensive boards over undersized bigs like Kris Humphries and Shelden Williams in order to gain additional shot opportunities that were interspersed throughout the hard-fought contest in favor of Memphis.

Probable Lineups 

NJN- D.Williams (PG), Brooks (SG), Stevenson (SF), Humphries (PF), She. Williams (C)

IND- Collison (PG), Dah. Jones (SG), George (SF), Dav. West (PF), Hibbert (C)

Three Keys to a Nets Victory

1. Get in Paul George's face- In the two prior meetings between these teams earlier in this season, George has duly taken advantage of the lackluster Nets' perimeter defense by hitting 16 of his 21 total field goal attempts, leading to 45 points between the two Pacer wins against New Jersey. Also in those games, George made a combined 9-for-11 from 3-point range which showed his awesome ability to pick holes in a defense and exploit them when possible. If George knows any better, he could expect the same type of easy, wide-open shot attempts to be available for him tonight unless the Nets can somehow manage to control this proven Net-killer and knockdown 3-point shooter and overall scorer. If Paul George scores as efficiently as he did in the last two Pacer-Nets match-ups, then we will have no shot of ending this losing streak in Indianapolis.

2. DEFENSIVE REBOUND- I simply can't stress this enough which is why this key to the game is in all-caps. Without Brook Lopez in the middle, the Nets have been terrible on the defensive glass and let opposing teams and players out-fight them for offensive boards that, most of the time, result in points for the opponent. Some games, like last night against Memphis, the Nets lose simply because of the ridiculous amount of offensive rebounds and second-chance points that opponents get (for example, Memphis had 19 offensive boards with Speights having six of them). 

3. Limit the turnovers- Another repeat key but after last night's dreadful 20-turnovers and 26 points-allowed off performance. The incredibly sloppy passing and dribbling that allowed Tony Allen to have five steals last night needs to stop immediately and if it doesn't, then expect another disappointing Nets loss to a very good Indiana team.

Prediction
Even though the Pacers are in a bit of a rut on the court, they are still just too talented for the Nets who can't seem to do much right now against any team in this lockout-shortened season. Indiana with an easy win, 103-87.