Monta Ellis got off to a fantastic start, which propelled the Pacers to an eight point lead after the first quarter. He scored 13 points on 5-6 shooing, while hitting all three of his attempts from three. I thought he would cool down as the game went on, but he kept hitting typical Monta shots. He finished with 32 points and he iced the game with an and-one lay in with 20 seconds left.
Will Barton was showcasing why he should be in the dunk contest early in the game with two fantastic dunks.
Number 1: https://twitter.com/nuggets/status/693593845196394496/video/1
Number 2: https://twitter.com/nuggets/status/693595635761582080/video/1
Gallinari forced himself to the line six times in the first half. His ability to get to the line and manufacture points even when the rest of the shots aren't really falling is almost invaluable to the team.
Gary Harris played an important role in the game for the Nuggets. Gary was born in Indiana so he must have cooked up something special. He was sensational in the third quarter when he played a pivotal role in helping the Nuggets get the lead back in that quarter. He had eight points in the quarter and made both of his three point attempts.
The team played fantastic as a whole in third quarter, which is when they finally got the game in hand after Indiana was doing well keeping a 6-10 point distance in the first half. They outscored the Pacers by 11 points in the quarter and it should have been even more. The front court let the Pacers get a lot of offensive rebounds in the quarter and they were able to turn those opportunities into points most of the time. The starters played phenomenal as well and Malone elected to keep them on for the entirety of the third because of their special play.
They struggled to begin the fourth because all of the bench players were cold after not playing at all in the third. They were able to get things back on track and not let the Pacers take a commanding lead. It was the starters who got the lead in the first place and it would have to be up to the starters to win the game. Every player on the bench finished with a negative plus/minus, while all of the starters finished on the positive end. They were able to tie the game 99-99, but they did not get a good shot when they had a chance to go ahead late in the game. Luckily, Monta Ellis missed the game winning shot and the game went into overtime.
They weren't able to finish the game in overtime and were not able to overcome a quick 5-0 run by the Pacers to begin overtime. They climbed back to make it a one point game with less than a minute left, but a three point play by Monta Ellis with 20 seconds left took away any chance that they had to win the game.
Nikola Jokic played a great game and finished with 16 points 11 rebounds and 5 steals. He showed fans why he should be seeing at least 30 minutes per game. If he and Nurkic show that they can play together, and I don't think there is any reason they shouldn't since Jokic can shoot from deep, they will be one of the best under 24 front courts in the league. This game showed why I cant wait to see Jokic's development during the rest of the season.
These are the games that you would like to see the Nuggets win against similar competition on the road, but a loss isn't all bad. They were competitive throughout the game and there were many points where they could have let it slide away from them, but they held on. They will need to win against either the Raptors or the Bulls in order to finish the seven game stretch before the All-Star break at 5-2.
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