Post-Game Grades: Pacers Throw Away Lead Again, Lose to Nuggets

The Indiana Pacers, yet again, turned a 15-point lead into a loss while playing awful D late.

The Good: The offense. Indiana scored at a wonderful rate, putting up a season-high 66 points in the first half and getting everyone involved. Paul George wasn’t even that big of a factor, in terms of usage, but the ball movement was crisp overall and a lot of players stepped up, most notably the team’s two rookies, Myles Turner and Joe Young, who both had career nights.

The Bad: The fourth quarter and general collapsey-ness. The Pacers gave up an unforgivable 45 points in the final period to let a middling Nuggets team, which lost Danilo Gallinari late on a foul out, overcome what was once a 15-point lead. They did so by showing a troubling mix of blah effort and poor execution while protecting their end of the court. That can happen when the rotation is so messed up (George Hill, Ian Mahinmi, and Rodney Stuckey were all out), but it can’t lead to a 45-point quarter. Frank Vogel was just as unhappy as most fans.

MVP: Myles Turner. Monta was probably better overall but then Ellis missed 3 huge FTs late. Turner goofed down the stretch, too, playing some poor help D on a Mudiay dunk and goaltending another shot, for example, but we can’t nitpick a career game. The efficiency was off the charts — 25 points on 11-for-13 shooting — and the Nuggets had no answer for his jumpers and rim attacks.

LVP: Glenn Robinson, third of his name, breaker of transition opportunities, protector of no realm.

X-Factor: Joe Young. Rook came up.