Nuggets Ride a 15-0 Burst Past the Haliburton-less Pacers in Mexico City
Denver built a 27-point cushion before halftime at Arena CDMX, then held off Indiana's second-half push to win 114-102.
The NBA's annual trip south delivered a familiar lesson: depth travels. The Denver Nuggets beat the Indiana Pacers 114-102 on Saturday in Mexico City, the league's 35th game in Mexico since 1992 — no country outside the United States and Canada has hosted more — and the 12th straight to sell out.
The run that settled it
Nikola Jokic scored 10 of his 19 points in the first quarter and finished with 13 rebounds and 8 assists, but the game broke open without him dominating the ball. Indiana went four minutes without scoring in the second quarter and Denver poured in a 15-0 run, with Jamal Murray's jumper pushing the lead to 64-37 — the game's largest margin — in the final minute of the half. Cameron Johnson added 18 points and Murray 16, with Denver's bench stretching the lead while the starters cooled off.
Indiana's push
Playing without All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton (hamstring strain), the Pacers made a real second half of it. Aaron Nesmith's back-to-back 3-pointers cut the deficit to 79-67 in the third, and Jarace Walker's triple made it 102-95 with 7:26 to play. Denver answered with six straight points and closed it out from the line. Pascal Siakam led Indiana with 23 points and Larry Nance Jr. added 15 off the bench; Siakam pointed to the altitude and the road crowd as early hurdles, and said the improved second-half energy "was not enough," per the AP report.
What it means
Denver has won four of its last five and keeps finding wins on nights when the shooting is ordinary — Jokic was matter-of-fact afterward, saying that "to win is the most important thing." Indiana has lost five of six, and until Haliburton returns, the margin between a spirited comeback and an actual win looks thin.