Nuggets keep Pacers offense in check in Bruce Brown’s first return to Ball Arena

While sub-zero wind chills strangled the Front Range, the Nuggets’ defense managed to cool down the Pacers just enough.

Holding the NBA’s top-scoring offense to its fifth-fewest points this season, the Nuggets defeated the Pacers 117-109 on Sunday afternoon at Ball Arena in Bruce Brown’s first return to Denver as an opponent.

After Brown received his 2023 championship ring, he went for 18 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals. But the Nuggets (28-13) contained his new teammates when it counted. Indiana shot 46.7% from the field and 27.6% from 3-point range, including 42% and 12.5% (1 of 8) in the fourth quarter of a close game. Defense buoyed the lead while Denver committed eight of its 21 turnovers in the fourth.

At the halfway point of the season, Denver is within a game of Minnesota and Oklahoma City for the top seed in the Western Conference. A five-game Eastern Conference road trip awaits, starting Tuesday at Philadelphia.

“I think we’re in a good spot,” Michael Porter Jr. said. “I think we’re about what you can expect with a vastly different bench lineup than last year, coming off a championship with a short summer. Obviously, we’d love to be No. 1 in the West, but we’re a couple games behind it. Feeling good. Guys are healthy. That’s all you can ask for.”

All five Nuggets starters were in double figures by the end of the third quarter. Jamal Murray, Nikola Jokic and Porter each tallied 25 points in a complete effort from Denver’s best players. Jokic shot 12 for 13 in a near-triple-double with 12 rebounds and nine assists. Porter added eight rebounds and shot 7 for 11 from beyond the arc to lead the Nuggets’ 50% performance from three. Aaron Gordon spearheaded the offense in the early stages, scoring 10 of Denver’s first 20 by tactfully getting behind Indiana’s defense in the dunker spot or as a roller in front-court pick-and-rolls with Jokic.

Gordon was pigeon-holed into playing the five for the last few minutes of the first half after Jokic and backup center DeAndre Jordan both got into early foul trouble. With six minutes remaining in the half, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle ambitiously challenged a charge call against Indiana, hoping to reverse the ruling into being Jokic’s fourth foul. It didn’t work, but by then, Jokic and Jordan already had three each, and Peyton Watson was waiting at the scorer’s table to check in for Jokic.

“It reminded me of the playoff game in the NBA Finals when Nikola got in foul trouble in Miami, and you find a way to win the non-Nikola minutes,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “I thought we did a pretty good job of that tonight.”

Jordan was ejected with 8:48 remaining in the game when he argued an illegal screen call and picked up his second technical. Jokic had survived the third quarter without endangering himself anymore, so he was able to play out crunch time.

Even with Jokic neutered for a large portion of the afternoon, the officiating also left the other sideline feeling disgruntled.

“Took 14 minutes to get a foul call on them in the second half,” Carlisle said. “That was surprising.”

He added that he thought the Nuggets were fortunate to have the charge call stand on Carlisle’s second-quarter challenge.

Even without the injured Tyrese Haliburton, the Pacers’ attribute that worried Michael Malone entering the matchup was, naturally, their offense. Malone spouted off stats in rapid succession during his pregame press conference, noting that Indiana leads the league in points per game, assists per game, field goal percentage, fast-break points per game and bench points per game. He wanted his team to start the first quarter with the same urgency displayed against New Orleans on Friday night, but he also warned of the dangers of playing to the Pacers’ pace too much. “They win that game every night,” Malone said.