Up by 21 points with just over 11 minutes to go. The Pacers had just lost Reggie Miller to technical fouls. Nope, not even the Nets could blow this one.
But they sure as heck tried.
After allowing the Pacers to storm all the way back to within one point, the Nets regrouped and held on for a 111-106 victory that ended a three-game skid last night at the Meadowlands, the NBA's answer to Fenway Park where no lead is safe.
"We understood they were going to make a run," said Keith Van Horn who scored 30 points, three of them on a monster 3-pointer at 2:16 to nudge the Nets (30-40) into a 104-99 lead after Indy got within two.
And, of course, lost the game. Like Sunday when the Nets unconscionably blew an 18-point lead in the final 7:50 to Denver for a defeat that may have pulled the plug on their playoff quest. Despite this victory over the No. 1 team in the East, the Nets failed to gain any ground on Orlando.
The Magic, a landslide victor over Boston last night, remains in eighth place in the East, a solid five games in front of the Nets, who have 12 games left to play.
This one appeared over early in the fourth quarter. But then, so did Sunday's game. Still, it was looking good. Indiana saw Miller bounced at the start of the fourth, when he received technicals at 12:00 and 11:57.
"It didn't matter that much. He wasn't playing that well," said Larry Bird about his 5-of-16 shooting, 13-point scoring star who also had been bounced on T's in the Jan. 4 game between the two in Indiana.
But Jalen Rose became a one-man wrecking crew and blasted in 17 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter. Nine of those points came when the Pacers, who've now lost three straight, ripped off a 26-6 charge that got them within 97-96. The crowd of 17,676 thought as one: here we go again.
"It's hard to fight that [thought]," said Kendall Gill. "It's putting yourself in a stressful situation, but we've been in that situation all season.
The way the Nets stopped it this time was with Van Horn scoring inside and out and by sending Stephon Marbury (28 points, 10 assists) down the Pacers' gut.
Marbury drew a foul and hit two free throws with 3:37 left and Van Horn followed with a jump hook for a 101-96 edge after Indy had made it a one-point affair.
"We play down to the level of the competition," said Van Horn, trying to explain how the Nets can beat Indiana but lose to Denver.
Jim McIlvaine sat a second straight game with back problems,. So Evan Eschmeyer got his first pro start. He scored six points in 11 minutes, but he picked up two fouls just :05 apart in the first :28 of the game and was on the bench by 10:26.
That was Williams' weekly gratuitous dig at John Calipari, former coach at UMass and the Nets.