NBA Game Summary - New Jersey at Indiana

Indianapolis, IN (Basketball News) - Vince Carter poured in a game-high 39 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead New Jersey over Indiana, 94-85, at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Nenad Krstic added 18 off the bench and Jason Kidd posted a double-double with 14 points and 12 boards for the sudden surging Nets, who have won four straight and eight of 12 overall.

Stephen Jackson paced Indiana with 21 points. Anthony Johnson added 18 while Fred Jones came off the bench to contribute 14 points for the Pacers, who had a brief two-game winning streak snapped. Reggie Miller ended with 13 in the setback.

New Jersey, which held a 16-14 lead in a low-scoring first quarter, used a quick 5-2 spurt to start the second to gain some breathing room. Zoran Planinic’s two free throws capped the surge, staking New Jersey to a 21-16 lead under 10 minutes to go in the first half.

Indiana would eventually knot the game up at 28-28 on Miller’s jumper, but New Jersey regained the lead by outscoring the Pacers, 12-6, to close the half.

The Nets started to pull away in the third as Carter’s three-pointer pushed New Jersey’s advantage to double-digits at 49-39. The lead ballooned to 16 at 69-53 on Kristic’s jumper at the 2:00 mark of the stanza and the Nets headed into the fourth quarter with a comfortable 71-59 cushion.

New Jersey pushed the lead as high as 17 points, but the Pacers made a late run as they trimmed the deficit to nine at 91-82 with two minutes remaining in the contest. However that was as close as the Pacers would get the rest of the way.