EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -It took the Nets three great performances and almost an entire game to put away the injury-ravaged Indiana Pacers.

Vince Carter had 34 points, 15 rebounds, and a game-clinching dunk with 28 seconds to play last night as the Nets beat the Pacers 92-86 to take a 3-2 lead in their best-of-seven first round series.

Richard Jefferson added 24 points and Jason Kidd set a team-postseason record with 15 assists as New Jersey won its second straight game in the series.

Game 3 will be played in Indianapolis on Thursday. If a deciding Game 7 is necessary, it will be played here on Saturday.

Jermaine O’Neal scored 19 points and Anthony Johnson 14 for the Pacers, who had five players score in double figures.

While the Pacers showed a tremendous amount of grit and determination in hanging around in Game 5 at the Continental Airlines Arena, they need to get healthy in a hurry if they want to survive.

Forward Peja Stojakovic missed his second straight game and third in the series with a knee injury. That was expected. Stojakovic averaged 19.5 points in 40 games with the Pacers, and Game 2 was the first game he missed since being traded to Indiana from Sacramento on January 25. The eightyear veteran has only scored 22 points on 8-of-18 shooting in 50 minutes in two playoff games, but his presence as a sharpshooter on the court is vital to the Pacers’ success.

“Peja’s a great player,” Nets coach Lawrence Frank said.”He stretches out the defense and it certainly hurt Indiana not to have Peja. He’s one of their best players. We’re aware of what he means to their team.”

What wasn’t was the absence of starting center Jeff Foster, who sat out with a back problem.

That left O’Neal, Stephen Jackson (13 points), and Anthony Johnson to carry the load, and they couldn’t do it despite a great effort that saw Indiana tie the game at 72 early in the fourth quarter.

The game-tying basket in a game in which the Pacers never led came on a fast-break layup by Fred Jones with 10:41 to play.

The Nets called timeout and turned to Carter, who was 13-for-24 from the field.The All-Star guard hit a jumper in the lane to put them ahead by two and Lamond Murray followed about two minutes later with a 3-pointer – his only basket of the game – to push the lead to 77-72.

A three-point play by Jefferson pushed the lead to 84-77, but the Pacers still wouldn’t go away. Three times in the final 1:41 the Pacers closed their deficit to three points, the last time at 89-86 with 50 seconds to go on two free throws by Jones.

With the game on the line on the Nets’ next possession, Carter drove the left side of the lane, elevated and slammed home a spectacular dunk that brought the sellout crowd to it feet.

Indiana never scored again.

The Nets had chances to blow open the game, taking leads of 11 points in the second quarter and 10 in the third, but the Pacers never gave up.

The last time the Nets and Pacers met in a Game 5, Indiana great Reggie Miller banked in a three-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime in what was then a first-round series decider. New Jersey won in overtime en route to losing in the NBA Finals in 2002.

The Nets are now 6-3 in Game 5s when the series is tied.