Jalen Rose scored a career-high 43 points and the Indiana Pacers led by as many as 17 points in the first half Tuesday.

But one half does not an NBA game make, as the Pacers were painfully reminded when a second-half meltdown led to a 103-97 defeat to the New Jersey Nets in the season opener at Continental Airlines Arena.

"It's hard to celebrate success when you've lost the war," said Rose, whose 16-footer with 4:29 left enabled him to top his previous high of 42 points set against the Toronto Raptors on Dec. 20, 2000. "I'd much rather walk through the shower and have guys slapping me on the back in the locker room after a win."

Instead, teammates almost whispered their praise of Rose in a locker-room scene that resembled a wake.

The New Jersey Nets are pondering whether to sign free agent forward A.C. Green, reports the New York Post.

The Nets are in the market for a veteran to replace injured forward Brian Scalabrine. Free agent A.C. Green, 38, the NBA's all-time longevity king with a consecutive-games-played streak of 1,192, is among the players the Nets are considering.

"He's someone we'll definitely look at and discuss," team president Rod Thorn said of Green, a former Lakers teammate of coach Byron Scott. "Obviously, he has some experience. Does he have anything left? That's what you need to know."

In this week's NBA Notebook presented by Jeffrey Denberg of the Atlanta Journal-Consistution Washington Coach Doug Collins says High Schooler Kwame Brown is not receptive to coaching and is not in shape to play, to which Brown responded that Collins misreads his body language and that he is doing everything Collins has asked him to do.  Could there be trouble in paradise already?

In other news Celtics coach Jim O'Brien is impressed with the play of point guard Kenny Anderson, yes, Kenny Anderson!  "I think Kenny is in great shape. He really has committed himself defensively, and he has continued to do a wonderful job of getting the ball into the paint."

Down in Phoenix Stephon Marbury just cannot get over New Jersey, choosing to have yet another dig at the franchise stating "We have a better team, that's obvious to me".

Strained Back. Tendonitis. Sore Ankle. Left/Right Knee Contusion. Turf Toe.

Those are just some of the "injuries" that have been used over the years to place a player on Injured Reserve. Some are legit, some are the diagnosis of Springfield's resident quack, Dr. Nick Riviera.

Think we're kidding? The Seattle Sonics once placed Moochie Norris on Injured Reserve with Insomnia.

The Houston Chronicle by way of the Bloomberg News gives some insight on the practice of stashing players on the injured list. Over the years, the NBA's injured reserve list has become akin to the NFL's Taxi Squad.

"It's probably as abused as any rule is in the NBA, and has been for many years," said Atlanta Hawks general manager Pete Babcock. "All of this lying is bad for the perception of our sport." Babcock's Hawks are known for placing players on the injured list only if they require the use of a wheelchair and a breathing apparatus.

"The league takes everyone at face value regarding who's hurt and who isn't," said New Jersey Nets president Rod Thorn, a former league executive. The Nets, as we all know, haven't had reason to make up fake injuries for several years.

The most common reason for symbolically clubbing a player in the knee with a lead pipe? Most teams have players they don't want to surrender. These players are either handy trade fodder or young players that teams want to groom, just not in a meaningful regular season game.

NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik said league officials are constantly re-evaluating the injured list policy.

"We're not totally happy with that situation," he said.

Derrick Dial hasn't sent his laundry out, hasn't looked for an apartment. He wouldn't dare.

He hasn't been in the NBA a long time, just 41 games over parts of two seasons with the San Antonio Spurs. But that's long enough for Dial, who had one field goal in 21 minutes here last night in a 100-84 preseason victory over the Knicks, to know that tomorrow is promised to no 12th man.

A last-minute invitee to the Nets training camp, Dial appeared to wrap up the team's back-up point guard spot earlier this week when Danny Earl and David Vanterpool, his competition for the job, were sent packing. But as Dial knows, you never know and so he's still taking things day by day.

"You just play hard every night," he said. "The goal wasn't to get a roster spot, but to actually play, get minutes. The task is not yet done."

Just what the New Jersey Nets needed. After having a training room that resembled TV's "E.R." last season, the Nets were hoping their injury-riddled days were behind them.

But before halftime of the Nets/Pistons game last night, the New York Post reports that second round pick Brian Scalabrine broke a bone in his right foot and will miss 2 to 3 months. Scalabrine had been out with a stress reaction in the same area of the foot.

The Nets will likely sign a replacement for Scalabrine before the regular season opener Tuesday against the Indiana Pacers. Team President Rod Thorn said recently-waived forwards Donny Marshall and Steve Goodrich are possibilities, as well as Omar Cook, recently cut by the Nuggets.

The Nets' underlying goal this preseason was to make it to the regular season healthy.

Nets starters made it safely, although they seemed listless in the Nets' 102-91 loss to the Detroit Pistons tonight to finish the preseason at 4-4. The night was marred when Brian Scalabrine, the 6-foot-9, second- round draft pick, broke a bone in his right foot 8 minutes 47 seconds into the second quarter. Scalabrine will miss two to three months with a fracture in his right metatarsal, said Rod Thorn, the Nets' president.

Scalabrine, out of Southern California, had missed almost all of the preseason with a deep bruise in his right foot, the same place he felt a pop tonight while simply dribbling upcourt uncontested at Continental Arena.

Todd MacCulloch heard the praise from Jason Kidd, who called him "the best center I've ever player with." MacCulloch was impressed.

"I didn't believe it, actually," the Nets center said before scoring 14 points in last night's 100-84 preseason wipeout of the Knicks here. "I thought he was joking. It's probably one of the biggest compliments I've ever been paid. He has a lot of time to change his mind."

MacCulloch is a master of self-deprecating humor, and when he hears such praise from Kidd, he turns the juice a little higher. MacCulloch came to the Nets after a potential-laced backup role in Philadelphia and received a six-year, $34 million free agent deal in the off-season. Immediately, there was pressure to prove his worth.

For the first time this preseason, Michael Jordan finished a game on the court -- and he finished it with a flurry. Jordan scored 27 points, including six in the final 2 1/2 minutes, propelling the Washington Wizards to a 105-92 victory over the New Jersey Nets tonight before a sold-out crowd of 14,313 at Bi-Lo Center.

Kenyon Martin sat at home Saturday night, resting the tendinitis in his left knee and watching Michael Jordan do what Martin hopes to keep him from doing tonight.

Score at will.

He didn't get caught up in Jordan's 41-point performance or MJ's 6-for-6 third quarter that helped hack the Nets' 19-point halftime lead down to two.

"I wasn't like, 'Woo, woo' when he did something," Martin said.

He didn't watch Jordan like an awestruck fan and he won't be one tonight in Greenville, S.C., when the Nets meet Jordan and the Wizards again, brandishing an additional weapon: Martin's defense.