INDIANAPOLIS — Rookie Tyler Hansbrough scored a
season-high 21 points, and Roy Hibbert added a career-best 20 points on his
birthday to help the Indiana Pacers beat the New Jersey Nets 107-91 on Friday
night and snap a six-game losing streak.
The 23-year-old Hibbert also had nine rebounds and three
blocks. Troy Murphy added 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Pacers in their
second game without Danny Granger. The team's scoring leader will miss at least
four weeks with torn tissue on his right heel.
Brook Lopez had 25 points and 14 rebounds for the Nets,
but shot 8 for 23.
Devin Harris scored 18 points for New Jersey. He left in
the second half with a sprained left pinky finger, but returned with it taped.
The Nets are 2-3 under coach Kiki Vandeweghe.
The Pacers had lost 10 of 11 and six in a row, but they
got off to a good start on Friday. Hibbert scored 15 points in the first half,
and Indiana shot 52 percent to lead 60-51 at the break.
Harris left the game midway through the third quarter
holding his finger while groaning in pain. New Jersey rallied without him and
closed to within 76-71 before Hansbrough hit back-to-back mid-range jumpers to
start an 8-0 run that pushed the lead to 13. Indiana led 87-74 at the end of the
third quarter.
Harris returned early in the fourth quarter, but it
didn't matter. The Pacers opened the quarter with a 6-1 spurt to take a 93-75
lead.
The Pacers were scrambling at the end of the shot clock
when Murphy saved the ball to Hibbert, and the 7-foot-2 center made the first
3-pointer of his career as the buzzer sounded with eight minutes to go. The shot
gave Indiana a 96-75 lead and Hibbert his career high.
New Jersey didn't make a field goal in the fourth
quarter until 5:51 remained.
Notes
Indianapolis native Courtney Lee started and
scored 14 points for the Nets. … Indiana shot better than 60 percent for much
of the first quarter before a flurry of misses at the end dropped the total to
57 percent. … Indiana had scored fewer than 100 points in three straight
games.