Post-Game Grades: Pacers loss to Nuggets might cost them in the playoffs
By Ben Gibson
The Indiana Pacers lost to the Denver Nuggets in the Mile High City. The loss may have cost them home court advantage in the playoffs.
The last time the Indiana Pacers beat the Denver Nuggets in the Mile High City, weed wasn’t legal there, Jeff Foster and Danny Granger were your favorite Pacers, and Carmelo Anthony was still a Nugget.
How much will a loaf of bread cost when the Pacers win there again? Who knows, but this loss might have cost Indiana a shot at home court advantage in the playoffs.
The loss drops them a full two games back of the Cleveland Cavaliers and one-and-a-half behind the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference standings. With only four games remaining in the regular season, it is unlikely the can jump ahead of either of those teams.
While the loss ends a five-game win streak, a 3-1 record on this Western Conference road trip isn’t anything to be ashamed of. If anything, the two near-unexplainable losses to the Atlanta Hawks and Dallas Mavericks after the All-Star break are what the Pacers should be regretting.
The Good: The bench stepped up to erase a double-digit lead early in the game and gave Indiana the lead. Some of the bench players mixed in well with the starters to cut into the Nuggets’ leads more than once in the game, but the starters overall struggles were too much.
Domantas Sabonis and Lance Stephenson were the engines behind the bench’s success, but Trevor Booker and Cory Joseph’s contributions shouldn’t be ignored. Indiana’s bench outscored Denver 28-15 and brought it defensively, but the starters were the ones who determined the game’s outcome.
The Bad: The Pacers starters were outscored 92-76, and outrebounded 33-21. If you need a simple explanation of what when wrong, that should do it.
Nikola Jokic and Wilson Chandler went a combined 7 of 12 from beyond the arc to expose a tried Indiana defense. It’s understandable after a busy stretch of games including four road games, but that’s where the fault lies in the loss.
MVP: Didn’t feel like anyone deserved it. Not because everything was bad, but no one stood out on the game as a whole.
LVP: Rebounding as a team and Myles Turner only had two. His job on defense suppresses those rebounding numbers, but tonight wasn’t a night where the rebounds could be missing. His 9 points and 2 rebounds aren’t why they lost, but they weren’t enough.
X-Factor: Darren Collison’s 4 of 4 shooting from deep was much-needed for the Pacers. Collison’s 16 points and 5 assists were one of the few bright spots among the starters.
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