Pacers can't overcome abysmal first half in 114-102 loss to Nuggets in Mexico city

MEXICO CITY — The Pacers battled back from a 27-point first-half deficit to cut Denver’s lead to single digits in the fourth quarter but still fell 114-102 to the Nuggets at the NBA’s Mexico City Game on Saturday at Arena CDMX.

The Pacers fell to 3-7. The Nuggets improved to 5-3.

Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets with 19 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists. Forward Cam Johnson added 18 points. Pascal Siakam scored 23 points to lead the Pacers and eclipsed 17,000 for his career. Larry Nance Jr. hit five 3-pointers to score 15 points and Ivica Zubac posted 10 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.

Here are three observations.

Pacers buried by bad offensive first half

The Pacers’ improvements from the first half to the second were dramatic across the board but the hole they dug ended up being a little too big, especially with Jokic and Jamal Murray closing things out.

Indiana’s offensive first half was fairly abysmal across the board as they trailed by as many as 27 points and went into halftime down 64-41. They made just 16 of 48 field goals (33.3%), went 5 of 23 from beyond the arc (21.7%) and were outscored 30-16 in the paint. The Pacers only turned the ball over six times, but the Nuggets didn’t give it up at all.

In the third quarter alone, the Pacers managed nearly as much offensive production as they had in the first half, scoring 37 points on 15 of 23 shooting including 7 of 12 from 3-point range. They shot 56.8% from the floor and hit 10 3-pointers and scored 28 points in the paint, but the Nuggets made sure they never got closer than seven points.

Ivica Zubac much better in second game back than first

Ivica Zubac’s first game back after an ankle sprain on Wednesday against Memphis wasn’t what he’d hoped for and the Pacers mostly won in spite of him. He finished with one point on 0-of-5 shooting and finished with just four rebounds in 18:47 on the floor and the Pacers were -22 in his minutes.

But a few more days of practice and a matchup that required him on the floor seemed to get Zubac going. He showed excellent touch around the rim and muscle on the glass as he finished with 10 points on 4 of 5 shooting and 12 rebounds, including four on the offensive glass. He was also sharp in terms of moving the ball, dishing out five assists against two turnovers.

Zubac did, however, have to guard one of the top five players in the world if not the greatest in Jokic and that created exactly the challenges one would expect. Jokic posted 19 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists. He was a relatively inefficient 7 of 20 from the floor, but he also got Zubac in foul trouble, which in turn held him to just 19:00 minutes of action when the Pacers were -6.

T.J. McConnell looked steady in comeback, but was on restriction

T.J. McConnell could have asked for more ideal conditions for his comeback-from-injury game. The 34-year-old veteran point guard didn’t get on the floor at any point in the preseason, missed the season’s first nine games, and his first game back was out-of-country and in elevation. Mexico City sits about 7,350 feet above sea level which is significantly higher than even Denver.

But McConnell seemed relatively comfortable given all that. He made a point to do defensive slides during timeouts to keep himself loose. In 9:01 of action in the first half he scored six points on 3 of 5 shooting and posted two rebounds and one assist. He was actually second only to Siakam on the team in field goals at the break.

McConnell was apparently on a minutes restriction, however, and did not appear in the second half.

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers can’t overcome abysmal first half in 114-102 loss to Nuggets in Mexico city