Nuggets beat Pacers 114-102 in Mexico City by winning the paint and protecting the ball

The Denver Nuggets beat the Indiana Pacers 114-102 at Arena CDMX in Mexico City on Saturday. Denver led from early in the first quarter, moved to 5-3 and has now won four of its last five. The Pacers, officially the home team, fell to 3-7. ESPN carried the highlights. According to the Associated Press report on Yahoo Sports, Indiana has lost five of its last six and played without Tyrese Haliburton, who stayed home with a hamstring strain.

Indiana's cold shooting was the obvious problem. The Pacers went 5-for-23 from three in the first half and finished at 31 percent from deep, Sports Illustrated's Pacers On SI reported. Denver did more than wait for those misses, though. It did not commit a turnover in the first half and scored 14 more points in the paint than Indiana before the break. A 15-0 run during a four-minute Pacers drought in the second quarter put the game out of reach early. Denver led by as many as 27 and went into halftime up 64-41.

The Nuggets also won without their usual shooting. Larry Brown Sports noted that Nikola Jokic went just 7-for-20 and Denver hit only 10 of 35 threes. The start was also held up for about 10 minutes so crews could level an uneven rim at the Nuggets' end. Jokic still finished with 19 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists, and 10 of those points came in the first quarter. Cameron Johnson added 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting, Jamal Murray had 16 and Aaron Gordon had 12.

Indiana did make a run. Aaron Nesmith hit back-to-back threes in the third quarter, and Jarace Walker's three cut the lead to 102-95 with 7:26 left. Denver answered with six straight points. NBA.com reported that the Pacers' bench outscored Denver's 52-43, which shows how much of Indiana's offense came from its reserves. Pascal Siakam led the Pacers with 23 points, and Larry Nance Jr. made five threes on his way to 15.

So the honest answer to the headline question is yes. Indiana missed shots, but it also lost the possession battle and the paint, and without Haliburton it had no one to run the offense against a Denver team that hardly turned the ball over.

What it means for Houston

The Nuggets return to the road Monday, November 9, at the Houston Rockets. The game airs on ALT2/KTVD and KUSA-TV (9NEWS). Denver's last five games have been more convincing than its first three. It has scored 116.6 points per game over that stretch and allowed 108, compared with 115.3 scored and 113.1 allowed across all eight games. The one loss in that run was 118-110 at home to Portland. In true road games, Denver is 2-1: it lost 96-84 at Oklahoma City in the opener, then won at New Orleans and at Phoenix.

Houston will be the toughest test since that opener. The Rockets went into the weekend 7-2 with the league's best net rating, according to Basketball Reference. Denver won Saturday with Jokic missing 13 shots and the team going 10-for-35 from three. To beat Houston, it probably needs those shots to fall again while still taking care of the ball the way it did in Mexico City.