To say Ivica Zubac had a bad first game after his return from an ankle injury would be an understatement. The Croatian center had only one point in 19 minutes of game time and shot 0/5 from the field against the Memphis Grizzlies. He was a -22, which was the worst on the team that night by 18.
Despite that, miraculously, the Indiana Pacers managed to win that game 107-103.
It won't always be that easy, though. That win required great performances from every single one of Indiana's role players, along with the Grizzlies shooting just 27% from deep, far below their averages.
If the Pacers want to get back into the win column consistently, they need their star big man to step up the way they know he can. That will be put to the test on Saturday afternoon against the Denver Nuggets, when Zubac will have to guard former NBA MVP Nikola Jokic.
The two have gone head-to-head in the past before, both in the playoffs and regular season when Zubac was a member of the LA Clippers.
Not scared of the supporting cast
The Nuggets roster is not nearly as good as it was when the team won the championship in 2023. Ever since that year, when things all fell into place for Denver, the team has lost talented role players and has used their draft picks in trades largely to dump big contracts instead of making a meaningful difference on the talent level of the roster.
While Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray are still in place, the role players that once established the floor of the Nuggets' performance are now gone. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is on his third team since leaving Denver. Bruce Brown isn't even in the league anymore. Jeff Green and Deandre Jordan are playing the James Johnson veteran role.
Unfortunately for Jokic, the team has not replaced any of those players. Christian Braun is up-and-down and horrendously overpaid even on his good nights, and he is all the Nuggets have as far as bench help. Maybe you can include Spencer Jones and Cam Johnson, but that feels a little too kind.
The key to stopping the Nuggets is simply to force Jokic to do everything for the team. The more he is relied on, the better the Pacers can take him out of the game. When forced to be a scorer, Jokic is no less excellent, but the team collapses in on itself as it becomes a 5-on-1.
All Denver has nowadays is the husk of DeMar DeRozan, Jamal Murray's depreciated self, and one of the 15 best players of all time.
There's a reason the Minnesota Timberwolves' third stringers took this team down in the playoffs, and no reason the Pacers can't do the same.
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