NET NOTES

The Pacers’ Game 2 situation took a drastic hit pre-game when Peja Stojakovic was scratched with a sore right knee.

Losing the starting small forward – who warmed up with a knee brace before officially being scratched – curtailed the good feelings the Pacers had over Jamaal Tinsley, who was activated for the game.

“[Tinsley] had a good eight hours,” said coach Rick Carlisle. “It didn’t look like they’d be any way [he’d play] on Monday.”

Rookie Danny Granger started for Stojakovic, who played 26 minutes in Game 1.

Nenad Krstic did not want to study the game tape. He saw a replay on TV. And worse, he lived through the Game 1 foul call the first time around.

“I saw it when I got home on [TV]. I pulled the jersey. I knew that. I tried to not get the foul,” said Krstic, the Nets’ culprit on the call that sent Anthony Johnson to the line for two game-winning free throws in Indiana’s 90-88 first round playoff victory Sunday. “Maybe for a first quarter, that’s a foul but for the last second, I don’t know.”

Krstic admitted that, despite teammates insistence he shake it off, the foul still bothered him “a lot” and left him feeling responsible for the defeat.

“If I do something like I push him or do a hard foul, but I didn’t do nothing,” Krstic said. “I still don’t have a playoff win [0-5]. I think the key is to not think about that and do the right things and try to relax, play like it’s a normal game in the season and don’t put a lot of pressure.”

Richard Jefferson has a different way of looking at things at times. Asked if he would like to run more, Jefferson replied, “I would like to do a lot of things. I would like to be on vacation in Aruba right now. I’d like to win a championship.”

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Antoine Wright (quad) was activated for the Nets. “I feel great. I’m good. I’m ready,” said the rookie Wright. John Thomas was put on the inactive list . . . Indiana coach Rick Carlisle winced at his team’s 19 Game 1 turnovers: “Fourteen for us is the winning number,” Carlisle said.

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Nets coach Lawrence Frank finished ninth in the Coach of the Year balloting . . . GM Ed Stefanski is excited about upcoming draft, where Nets pick 22nd and 23rd in the first round. “People are saying there are not impact players and I would tend to agree, Stefanski said. “But in this draft there are some good players, and where we’re drafting, I think we’ll be able to get two capable players who’ll bring energy.”