Nuggets try to regain momentum against Pacers as season-long home stand continues

This season has often been about turning the page and putting a bad loss behind you. That’s exactly what the Denver Nuggets look to do when they host the Indiana Pacers tonight in the fourth game of a season long eight-game home stand.

No Nurkic

After spraining his right ankle during a fall in last week’s Golden State game, Jusuf Nurkic remains out versus the Pacers. On the injury report released by the team, the Nuggets are citing “left knee soreness” as his ailment.

Except if you look at the play where Nurkic clearly gets injured, he definitely doesn’t hurt his left knee. He must have aggravated that same knee that he had offseason surgery on at some point earlier in the game.

Losing Nurkic hurts and there’s no way around it.

The Nuggets were already nearly 13 points per 100 possessions better on defense with Nurkic on the floor, and he is the only player on the roster that provides rim protection of any sort. Losing him completely alters what Michael Malone wants to do on defense and once again it’s back to the drawing board for him and his coaching staff.

A new Gallinari 

Since missing six games with an ankle sprain, Gallinari has looked rejuvenated and like a different player since he’s returned. In his last seven games Gallo is averaging an impressive 24.0 points on 42.5 percent shooting from the field and 34.4 percent from three — to go with 5.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 36.8 minutes per game.

Those shooting percentages are way up from his season averages which both still sit below 40 percent Gallinari’s clearly playing with a different pace than he was to start the year. He’s also turned up his defense late in games, stealing the ball from Steph Curry in the final minute against the Warriors and bothering Chris Bosh on a jumper late in the Heat game.

He will have to channel that defensive prowess all game in order to slow down Indiana’s Paul George who he’s sure to be matched up with often tonight.

Pacers small-ball attack

The Paul George at power forward experiment which the Pacers have consistently gone to this season, (according to Nylon Calculus he’s played the four approximately 56.2 percent of the time) is off to a good start.

The lineup move designed to turn Indiana’s offensive attack into a more high-tempo, modern-day NBA offense has resulted in the Pacers ranking seventh in pace, according to NBA.com, but 18th in offensive efficiency. Oddly enough it’s their defense which has been fortified this season, ranking third, league-wide.

Indiana has alternated between a bigger lineup with Luis Scola at power forward and a smaller unit with George at the four in their last two game, but I’d expect them to go small against Denver’s mix-and-match starting five.

That bigger lineup, which usually has Lavoy Allen starting at the four is the unit that’s driven their defensive rating so high. That five holds opponents to just 84.7 points per 100 possessions and is their second most used lineup of the year. Their most used lineup is that small-ball five where the Pacers sub out Allen for another wing in C.J. Miles is giving up 107.1 points per 100 possessions.

It’s an important game tonight versus Indiana as Denver looks to put that heartbreaking Heat loss behind them and capitalize on this home stand, their best opportunity to turn this season around and gain momentum before the schedule beefs up again.