Brooklyn, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Brook Lopez had 24 points, Joe Johnson scored 21 and the Brooklyn Nets beat the Indiana Pacers 111-106 on Tuesday for their first four-game winning streak of the season.
The Nets, 8-2 in their last 10 games, moved a half-game ahead of idle Boston for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference while knocking Indiana 1 1/2 back.
Lopez, who scored 20 of his 24 points in the first half, added 11 rebounds and Alan Anderson had 20 points off the bench. Jarrett Jack scored 13 points and Deron Williams had 11 points and eight assists in the win.
"I just thought we played smart and we played fairly disciplined," said Nets coach Lionel Hollins.
George Hill scored 28 points to lead the Pacers, who fell to 2-8 in their last 10 and fell 1 1/2 games back of the final playoff spot in the East. David West added 14 points and the Indiana bench scored 48.
"We have to move on right away," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. "There's plenty of basketball to be played."
The Nets, after leading by as many as 19 points in the first half, took an 84-79 edge into the fourth quarter and remained in front the rest of the way.
It wasn't a safe lead until Johnson buried a 3-pointer from the right corner to make it 108-100 with 15.4 seconds left.
The Nets looked for Lopez early as the reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week scored 14 points in a big first quarter for the home team.
Getting easy looks off good passes, Lopez helped the Nets build an 18-point lead going into the second quarter. In one short span, he had an alley-oop dunk off a pass from Johnson, then made two layups off a scoop pass from Williams under the basket and a low post look from Thaddeus Young.
The Nets had 10 assists on 13 baskets in the quarter and made 13 of their 21 shot attempts.
But they struggled in the second quarter while the Pacers bench led a comeback out of an early 19-point hole. The Pacers eventually took the lead on Solomon Hill's 3-pointer with around two minutes left in the first half, but Lopez led a 7-2 flurry that gave the Nets a 57-54 advantage at the break.
Indiana's bench scored 36 of the team's 39 points in the quarter.
Game Notes
Indiana had won five of the previous six meetings between the teams. They split the first two meetings this season, with each winning on the other's home court, including Brooklyn's 123-111 victory on March 21 a day after it lost to Milwaukee in triple overtime ... Indiana remains on the road to play Boston on Wednesday ... Brooklyn faces the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.
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