The Denver Nuggets won three consecutive matches on the road for tonight and looked to be making a perfect 4-0 on the road with a win against the Indiana Pacers. They got off to a great start and their big three from Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr delivered again. Indiana ends up losing strength in a second night of consecutive games and spoiled by Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis. Denver wins by 113 to 103 and goes on high for the break all star.
The Nuggets put things out of the gate behind Will Barton and Porter Jr, who drained three at a time. Denver jumped to a 13-2 lead before Indiana found any momentum. They also had a few lucky strokes, including a three Turner Bank, and fired a 15-0 run to take the lead and force coach Michael Malone to a timeout. The race came to 17-0 before Monte Morris finally got a basket, which did not prevent the disappearance act in the defense that Denver was making. Things got more tense over the quarter, Denver was able to put the staples on everyone except Sabonis, who kept the Pacers in the lead. The Nuggets closed the quarter strongly and retreated one after one.
PJ Dozier gave Denver life off the bench to start the second, first taking down a three and then using a medium-range jumper to put Denver back in front. The Nuggets were back on pace, especially with their passing, which was excellent and resulted in high percentage looks on the rim. Denver took the lead to seven, but they still struggled to contain the Pacers in the offensive glass that kept Indiana within an attacking distance. When the Denver holders came back on the attack, they strangely braked a little, but Indiana was really cold off the ground, except for a few second chance points (again), there wasn’t much to talk about Indy’s attack. Denver found its reach of three with the tie of the middle for a final, a Joker three placed them for twelve to little more than two minutes of the final. Indiana had a little life right at the end of the semester and pushed back, but after two quarters they still lost by nine.
Denver was careless to start the second half, but it didn’t hurt them from the start, because the Pacers were still unable to remove the rim cap. The game continued to be more sloppy than Joe as the fourth progressed and Denver’s lead hovered around ten points. The slop eventually caught up with them and Indiana ran a 14-2 run to tie the game and force Malone to a timeout. Jokic was really struggling in the night, but he started to find a rhythm with his pass and managed to get some easy buckets for his teammates. That, together with Dozier and Vlatko Cancar, spawned a race to put the Nuggets back by eight. Indiana really struggled to gather good possessions at its end, which prevented the Nuggets’ leadership from getting smaller. At the end of the third quarter, Denver still had eight points.
The Denver attack continued to cook to start the room and kept them ahead. The Pacers would not be quiet and found a way to tie some baskets to prevent the Nuggets from closing the game at the beginning of the room. Porter did not allow himself to be dissuaded from a victory and began to take down a few three, which made the advantage grow to fourteen. Around the middle of the quarter, he erased a Malcolm Brogdon tray with a beautiful pad that led to Murray’s dunk and it looked like it was the nail in the coffin. Even so, Indiana gave one last push and returned at eleven o’clock, with two minutes to go. Denver slowed things down to make the Pacers play against the clock and they couldn’t get over it. Denver wins 113-103