Pacers-Nuggets Insider 061202

DENVER 121, INDIANA 101
Pacers Can't Keep Up With Nuggets

At Denver | Dec. 2, 2006
Maybe it was the thin air. Maybe it was the fourth road game in five nights. Maybe it was the seven sets of back-to-backs in the first 18 games. Maybe it was all of those things in varying degrees, but the Pacers did not have the legs to run with the Nuggets Saturday night. Carmelo Anthony scored a season-high 38 as Denver blew open the game in the third quarter and rolled to a 121-101 victory at Pepsi Center.

The Pacers lost their second in a row to fall to 9-9 overall, 5-7 on the road. Denver won for the 10th time in 12 games after starting the season 0-3 to improve to 10-5 overall, 5-3 at home. The Nuggets beat the Pacers for the fifth straight time, a streak that was last matched bridging the 1975-76 and '76-77 seasons.

PLUSES
As is often the case against Denver, the box score looked a lot better than the game. Jamaal Tinsley scored 25 with eight assists and shot 11-of-19; Jermaine O'Neal scored 20 on 9-of-13 shooting and pulled 16 rebounds with four assists, two steals and two blocks; Al Harrington battled foul trouble but managed 18 points in 23 minutes; and Jeff Foster tied his career-high with 18 rebounds. The Pacers shot .459, had 26 assists and outrebounded the Nuggets 54-41.

MINUSES
The Pacers committed 18 of their season-high 26 turnovers in the second half and simply couldn't contend with Denver's hot shooting. Anthony made 14-of-25 for his 38 points, the 12th time in 13 games he scored at least 30. Smith finished with 19 and hit 5-of-7 from the arc. Earl Boykins scored 15 with six assists off the bench, and Marcus Camby was quietly solid with 10 points, 15 rebounds, five assists and five blocks. The Nuggets shot .477 and had 31 assists against just 10 turnovers.

MOMENTS
The Pacers hung around for most of the first half, using a 12-2 run to take an early 18-14 lead. Anthony carried the Nuggets through what could've been a flat first quarter, scoring 14 overall and 13 in a row at one point. With Anthony on the bench, the Nuggets put together a 13-4 run in the second quarter behind Earl Boykins (who scored seven) to take a 51-39 lead. Tinsley scored seven quick points as the Pacers cut it to five but the Nuggets pushed the advantage back to double digits, 65-55, at the half.

When Harrington picked up his fourth foul less than a minute into the third quarter the Pacers lost a much-needed weapon at an unfortunate time. Tinsley did what he could to keep the team in the game, scoring 12 of the team's first 16 points, including a layup that made it 80-71 midway through the third but Smith heated up again, hitting a trio of 3-pointers to spark a 13-4 run that stretched the lead to 93-75 and the Pacers got no closer than 15 the rest of the way, trailing by as many as 23.

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