First Thoughts: Nuggets 109, Pacers 96
By CHRIS GOFF
ISL Editor
First thoughts after the Indiana Pacers lost 109-96 to the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night at the Pepsi Center:
IN A NUTSHELL: Brian Shaw defeated Frank Vogel in a matchup of former colleagues. Coming off one of their most disappointing performances of the season in needing overtime to beat lowly Sacramento, the Pacers were outclassed by the Nuggets. Wilson Chandler scored a game-high 25 points over 34 minutes. Timofey Mozgov and Nate Robinson added 15 points apiece, both coming off the bench for Denver. J.J. Hickson registered 14 points and 13 rebounds, and Kenneth Faried chipped in 13 points and nine rebounds for a Nuggets team that shot 48.2 percent from the field. Lance Stephenson scored a team-high 23 points, but he was a minus-12 in plus/minus on this night. Paul George registered 18 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, but even he was an unusual minus-7 overall. Stephenson was a part of everything with 10 rebounds, seven assists and six turnovers. Indiana shot a mere 42 percent and turned the ball over 17 times (leading to 18 points).
KEY SEQUENCE: The Nuggets embarked on a 16-0 run over the final two minutes of the first quarter and first three minutes of the second, opening a 33-18 lead before the Pacers knew what hit them. Robinson scored eight points during the burst as the Nuggets were 6-of-8 shooting (75 percent), while Indiana missed all seven shots and committed four turnovers. After scoring 40 points in the third quarter, the Pacers trimmed the deficit to six with a little burst early in the fourth, but Denver responded with a critical 5-0 run over a span of 2:55 that pushed the lead back to double digits. Indiana, shut out on five trips during that run, got as close as six once more but committed too many mistakes to ever pull even.
BEST OF THE REST: Denver was missing two starters to injury, center JaVale McGee and forward Danilo Galinari, and also was without the services of reserve big man Darrell Arthur. … Stephenson, Vogel and David West each received a technical foul, as Indiana continued to complain to officials on this road trip against the Western Conference. … Indiana faced a deficit of at least 17 points for the third straight game. The Nuggets led 55-36 at halftime. … Denver had seven players in double figures. … The Nuggets were 21-of-37 (56.8 percent) from the charity stripe, which nearly allowed Indiana back in the game.
WHAT WE LEARNED: The excuses are there to be made: playing at altitude, on the second night of a back-to-back. But the Pacers had the better player at four of the five positions and a superior bench, as well. Denver was a wounded, shorthanded opponent that went 20-21 in the first half of the season. This was an imminently winnable game, but George and the Pacers made costly mistakes down the stretch. The schemes and strategy weren’t great at the start, as Indiana didn’t pound the ball inside until they were far behind. They let Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson control the game with his passing (10 assists) while Roy Hibbert failed to make an impact after fouling out late in the final frame with five points. Indiana (34-9) must dust itself off before visiting Los Angeles on Tuesday. The Pacers wrap up this five-game road trip then against what’s left of the Lakers.
