The Indiana Pacers travel to The Big Apple to play the Brooklyn Nets at Barclay's Center on Friday.

The Pacers (20-12) have suffered devastating back-to-back defeats in their last two games, as that snapped a season-best seven-game winning streak. The nature of those losses is what's really disturbing, as Indiana lost on a tip-in at the buzzer against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday and followed that up with a huge blown lead against a shorthanded Toronto Raptors club on Wednesday. The Pacers completely collapsed in that loss to the Raptors, as they went 5-of-18 from the field and committed seven turnovers in an 11-point fourth quarter to allow Toronto to come back, 98-95. That's obviously annoying for fans but it overshadows an incredible run by this team. In fact, Indiana owns the best defense in the NBA right now, allowing 101 points per game. It's no surprise either with Myles Turner controlling the paint, as he's one of the league leaders with 2.8 blocks per game. He's really stepped up his game over recent weeks and it's a scary thought that this 22-year-old is playing at this sort of level and improving game-by-game.

The Nets (15-18) come into this matchup in the midst of a seven-game winning streak, as that's their best stretch in quite some time. In fact, this marks their longest winning streak since the notorious Boston Celtics trade and it says a lot about how much this team has developed. It's the backcourt that's really made this team dangerous, with D'Angelo Russell running the show and Spencer Dinwiddie playing career-ball off the bench. What's really impressive about this stretch is the competition, as Brooklyn has beat the Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors and Los Angeles Lakers in their current winning streak. That's all Brooklyn fans could hope for, as the years of rebuilding finally appear to be showing some results.

Indiana won their one game over Brooklyn earlier this season, 132-112, on October 20. That actually marked the Pacers eighth-straight victory over the Nets.