Nuggets-Pacers Preview

By NOEY KUPCHAN
Posted Feb 11 2012 1:58AM

After jumping out to a great start to the season, the injury-plagued Denver Nuggets suddenly find themselves on the verge of matching their longest losing streak in more than seven years.

The Indiana Pacers are also looking to regroup from a rough patch of their own.

The Nuggets try to avoid a sixth consecutive defeat Saturday night against a Pacers team coming off back-to-back losses for the first time.

Denver (15-12), which won 14 of its first 19, has since dropped seven of eight - including five straight by an average of 10.2 points. One night after losing 105-95 to Dallas, the Nuggets were dealt a 109-101 defeat at the hands of Golden State on Thursday.

"The last two home losses we've had, teams have just hit incredible shots," said Arron Afflalo, who scored a season-high 26 points. "That's a credit to them a little bit, but our defensive intensity, including myself, needs to pick up."

Denver has been held to 94.4 points per game during its skid - significantly lower than its NBA-best mark of 103.6. While playing without leading scorer Danilo Gallinari (chip fracture in left foot) for the last two games certainly hasn't helped, coach George Karl believes it's simply a matter of bringing a more inspired effort going forward.

"If you don't have energy, maybe we'll have to go somewhere else," Karl told the team's official website. "It has nothing to do with your skills right now. We need energy to play with tempo and pace and not play like we're in mud or the old guys at the rec center.

"We've got to run up and down the court. That's what we committed to and that's what got us a lot of our wins this year. I don't think I'm going to back off of it."

The Pacers (17-9) enter this matchup losers of three of four after getting swept on a two-game road swing. Indiana suffered a 97-87 loss at Atlanta on Wednesday before falling 98-92 at Memphis on Friday.

While they held a 48-37 rebounding advantage, the Pacers were outscored 12-6 over the final 4:29.

"The biggest different was the willingness to win. They had a little bit more will than us," Darren Collison told NBA.com. "They wanted it more and that's something that we just can't have. Road or at home, we've got to try and find a way to win games and tonight was that case."

David West posted season highs of 22 points and 13 rebounds versus the Grizzlies, and Danny Granger scored 19 points despite being limited by early foul trouble.

The Pacers have to like their chances of getting back on track at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Indiana has held opponents to just 88.8 points per game in going 7-2 on its own court - with both losses coming against Orlando.

The Pacers have dropped 11 of 14 meetings in this series, though they made things quite rough on Denver during its last visit to Indiana. The Pacers scored a franchise-record 54 points in the third quarter of a 144-113 rout Nov. 9, 2010.

Indiana is 9-2 when Granger, who leads the team with an average of 18.3 points, scores at least 21. He is averaging just 16.4 points over five career home meetings with the Nuggets.

Denver hasn't lost six consecutive games since Dec. 17-27, 2004.

Averaging 17.0 points, Gallinari is expected to miss around a month. Timofey Mozgov (ankle) likely won't be available in this one either. Corey Brewer's status, meanwhile, remains unknown as he continues to mourn the death of his father.

Nuggets upend Pacers 113-109

Posted Feb 11 2012 11:21PM

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) The Denver Nuggets found a way to hold off the Indiana Pacers and get a much-needed win.

Despite building a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter, the Nuggets survived a late, fourth-quarter run by the Pacers to win 113-109 on Saturday night.

Ty Lawson scored 27 points to lead the Nuggets, who snapped their five-game losing streak.

"We won the game because we had more effort and energy," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "Now we can have a good day off and enjoy the stress of a win instead of the stress of losing."

Danny Granger scored 26 points for the Pacers, who have lost four of five had their first three-game losing streak of the season.

Arron Afflalo had 23 points and five rebounds and Corey Brewer had 19 points and five rebounds in his first game back after missing three straight because of the death of his father.

"His energy was amazing," Afflalo said. "I think he's the reason we won tonight. We fed off him all night long. This was a great game for him and a good game for us."

The Nuggets, who jumped to a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter after never taking more than a six-point lead in the first three quarters, survived a late run by the Pacers.

Indiana got back within a point late in the game and the Nuggets pulled away from the free throw line.

Afflalo was fouled and made two free throws to put the game away with 8.2 seconds left.

The Nuggets had an 87-84 lead to start the fourth and went on an 8-1 run to take a 10-point lead at 95-85 on a dunk with 9:02 left.

The Nuggets led 104-94 and the Pacers scored five straight points to make it 104-99 with 3:48 left in the game.

The Nuggets scored to make it 106-99 and Indiana's Paul George, who had 15 points, made another 3-pointer to cut the lead.

Darren Collison was fouled on a shot and made the free throw to make it 106-105 with 2:40 left in the game.

That's the closest the Pacers would get.

"Obviously disappointed in the loss," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. "I thought our transition defense was good most of the night, which it has to be against this team. We had too many turnovers. That probably cost us the game."

The Pacers committed 20 turnovers. The Nuggets had 12.

Kosta Koufos scored and Afflalo made a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 111-105.

David West scored again, but the Pacers were never able to take the lead.

The Pacers went on a 5-0 run to take a nine-point lead midway through the first quarter. Granger hit a 3-pointer and Tyler Hansbrough made two free throws to make it 29-20.

The Pacers jumped to a 35-26 lead by the end of the first quarter, led by Granger's 18 first-quarter points.

The Pacers extended the lead to 10 at the start of the second quarter, the Nuggets scored and Indiana scored six straight to take a 46-33 lead, their biggest of the night.

The Nuggets eventually took a 56-55 lead when Brewer hit a 3-pointer to make it 55-54 and Afflalo scored the go-ahead layup. But George went to the line and tied the game with a free throw at 56.

The game was tied at 60 at halftime.

The Nuggets jumped to a five-point lead early in the second half, but the Pacers came back to get within a point when Granger and Collison scored.

The Nuggets extended the lead by as much as six points in the third, but could never extend it further until the fourth.

"We've lost a few games in a row and now we have to get back on the winning streak," Brewer said. "We've got one. Time to get two or three or more."

Timofey Mozgov was out again because of a sprained left ankle.

"Timofey is definitely our best big guy," Karl said. "He protects the paint very well, protects the basket very well, is our best pick-and-roll defender."

NOTES: Nuggets F Danilo Gallinari was also out with a sprained left ankle. ... Pacers C Jeff Foster was out with a sore lower back after making his first appearance in 14 games and had six points and seven rebounds against Memphis on Friday. ... Pacers G George Hill was out with a fractured left ankle.

Notebook: Nuggets 113, Pacers 109

Posted Saturday February 11, 2012 11:17PM

Conrad Brunner, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: The Indiana Pacers have hit their first bump in the road. The Denver Nuggets hope they've finally cleared theirs. Denver built a 12-point fourth-quarter lead but had to hang on as the Pacers rallied before falling 113-109 Saturday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. It was the third loss in a row and fourth in five games for Indiana (17-10), while the Nuggets (16-12) snapped a five-game losing streak. Ty Lawson scored 27 but Arron Afflalo took over down the stretch, scoring 12 of his 23 in the fourth quarter, including a 3-pointer that gave Denver a six-point lead with 1:35 remaining. Danny Granger scored 26 for Indiana, just eight after the first quarter. David West scored 22 for the second time in two nights, matching his season high, but turned the ball over when trying to pass out of a double team with 10 seconds left and the Pacers down by two.

QUOTABLE: "It was a great win for us. Obviously Ty (Lawson) was spectacular the whole night. We won the game because we had more effort and energy. Now we can have a good day off and enjoy the stress of a win instead of the stress of losing."
-- Denver Coach George Karl

THE STAT: Denver racked up 62 points in the paint, the most scored against the Pacers, who entered the game allowing 38.8 per game.

TURNING POINT: Paul George hit a couple of 3-pointers and Darren Collison converted a three-point play as the Pacers put together a 13-2 run to cut Denver's lead to 106-105 with 2:40 remaining. Kosta Koufos had a tip-in and Afflalo a 3-pointer to make it a six-point game but West scored twice in a row to bring it back to 111-109 with 48 seconds left. After an Afflalo miss, the Pacers ran a play for West, who was doubled in the lane and tried to kick it back out to Collison but the pass sailed wide into the backcourt and the turnover gave the Nuggets the chance to seal it at the line.

QUOTABLE II: "His energy was amazing. I think he's the reason we won tonight. We fed off him all night long. This was a great game for him and a good game for us."
-- Afflalo on Corey Brewer.

HOT: Afflalo hit 8-of-11 from the field, while West was 10-of-11. Pacers backup point guard A.J. Price entered the game on a 7-of-30 slump but scored a season high 13 on 4-of-8 shooting. George shot 4 of 7 from the 3-point line.

NOT: Al Harrington shot 4-of-18 off the Denver bench. After a hot start, scoring 18 in the first quarter, Granger shot 3 of 9 and missed all four of his 3-pointers the rest of the way.

QUOTABLE III: "We must bond and come back tougher and smarter and play to win and not to lose. We know what we're made of so we know we can do it."
-- Pacers center Roy Hibbert

GOOD MOVE: After missing the last three games due to personal reasons, Brewer returned to action, Karl gave him his first start of the season. Brewer responded with 19 points, five rebounds and two steals in 34 minutes.

BAD MOVE: The only mistake West made down the stretch was that critical bad pass, but it turned out to be the play that cost the Pacers their last chance.

NOTABLE: The Pacers entered the weekend 16-0 when they score at least 90 points, then lost two in a row to Memphis and Denver. They were 9-0 with at least 20 assists until tonight. ... Nene left the game in the third quarter with a strained left calf and did not return. ... Both teams wore Hardwood Classics uniforms. ... Though Jeff Foster played well Friday in Memphis, producing six points and seven rebounds in 13 minutes in his first appearance in 14 games, the veteran center sat out tonight as the Pacers exercise caution bringing him back from a lower back problem. ... George Hill missed his seventh consecutive game with a chip fracture in his left ankle and Vogel said before game there still is no timetable for his return. The Pacers are 3-4 since Hill's went down.

UP NEXT: For the Pacers, Tuesday vs. Miami, Wednesday @ Cleveland, Thursday vs. New Jersey. For the Nuggets, Tuesday vs. Phoenix, Wednesday @ Dallas, Friday @ Memphis.

• Nuggets: Gallinari
• Pacers: --

• Nuggets: Brewer, Karl, Miller
• Pacers: --

• Lead Changes: 9
• Times Tied: 10

• Arena: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
• Officials: #63 Derek Richardson, #56 Mark Ayotte, #49 Tom Washington
• Attendance: 15313
• Duration: 2:24