After having their nine-game winning streak snapped rather unceremoniously, the Denver Nuggets look to regroup in time for a matchup against the Indiana Pacers on Monday in Indianapolis.
The Nuggets never led in a 123-100 home loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night. Los Angeles turned in a dominant performance after losing its last five meetings against Denver.
The Lakers bottled up Denver center Nikola Jokic, who was held to his second-fewest points in a game this season (12) on 2-of-7 shooting.
The Nuggets now begin a four-game trip against Eastern Conference playoff contenders Indiana, Milwaukee, Detroit and Boston after committing 22 turnovers against Los Angeles.
“No one’s going to be scared that the Denver Nuggets are coming to town,” coach Michael Malone said after Saturday’s loss. “So we have to play a lot better than we did tonight. … We have to understand that we cannot just rely on our offense. We averaged 128 points per game on our nine-game win streak. And tonight, we had 100. So when we’re not scoring, when we’re not making shots, what are we going to do?”
The Nuggets certainly will need an improved offensive effort against the high-scoring Pacers, who have won three straight.
Indiana sits in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, leading the Bucks by just a half-game.
Tyrese Haliburton recorded his 16th double-double of the season with 29 points and 12 assists in a 129-111 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday. Aaron Nesmith added a season-high 19 points.
The Pacers turned in a dominant performance against the short-handed Clippers, who played without Norman Powell (left knee soreness) and Kawhi Leonard (left foot soreness). Indiana led by as many as 22 and shot 54.8 percent from the field.
“I thought we did a good job maintaining our poise and maintaining our attention to detail for 48 minutes,” said Haliburton, who has scored at least 20 points in three straight games.
The Pacers are monitoring the status of point guard T.J. McConnell, who sprained his right ankle in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game and did not return.
Indiana has lost its last eight meetings against Denver, which holds the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.
“We’re looking forward to competing against another great team,” Haliburton said. “Obviously Jokic is having a (great) year and that team’s having a (great) year. Just looking forward to seeing where we stack up against them, and hopefully maintain what we’ve got going.”
The Nuggets had few bright spots in Saturday’s loss to the Lakers, but forward Aaron Gordon filled the box score with 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including 4 of 7 from 3-point range.
Gordon is shooting 42.7 percent from beyond the arc this season compared to 29 percent last season.
After Saturday’s game, Denver guard Jamal Murray praised Gordon for his contributions on both ends of the floor.
“It’s not just his three,” Murray said. “His three, obviously, maybe got a little bit better, but I think just his entire game. Where he picks his spots, how much he gets to the rim, free throws. He’s always having a very complete game. Even if he has a low point total or whatever, he’s still having an impact.”
