The Indiana Pacers have been able to jolt themselves wide awake after a bit of an uneven start to the 2024-25 season. Entering their Monday night clash against the Denver Nuggets, they have won 16 of their first 21 games in the current calendar year, positioning themselves within the top four in the Western Conference. However, they ate some humble pie against the Nuggets, as Nikola Jokic put up a dominant effort en route to a 125-116 defeat for the Pacers.
It was difficult to pinpoint what exactly went wrong for the Pacers on Monday night; being on the second night of a back-to-back, of course, made it more difficult for Indiana to keep up with a more well-rested Nuggets team that was raring to redeem itself following a blowout loss against the Los Angeles Lakers.
But the regular season is a grind filled with learning experiences, and for Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle, all he could do after their loss to the Nuggets is reflect on what went wrong so that they cannot repeat the mistakes of their past.
“We had 18 turnovers. We got beat on the boards. And we had a rough shot-making night. And I haven’t even gotten to (the defense),” Carlisle said, via Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star.
In an 82-game season, there are bound to be some highs and lows for any team. And tonight simply did not go according to plan for the Pacers, as they were thoroughly outplayed by the Nuggets on both ends of the court.
“Just a rough night,” Carlisle added, per Tony East of Sports Illustrated.
Pacers face the wrath of the schedule gods
There is no doubt that the Pacers have been playing very well as of late. But they got dealt a rough hand in their back-to-back set against two very good teams in the Los Angeles Clippers and the Nuggets that even though they were at home, they simply could not keep up the pace they’ve been playing at over the past few months.
While the final score line does not necessarily indicate that the Pacers were dominated, the underlying stats show otherwise. The Nuggets shot 56.4 percent from the field and scored 74 points in the paint, and Denver also hauled in 14 more rebounds on the night than Indiana did.
The Pacers were already having some troubles shooting the ball, so it did not help as well that they coughed the ball up 17 times. It’s back to the drawing board for Rick Carlisle and company as they prepare for their Wednesday night clash against the Toronto Raptors.
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