DEVER NUGGETS 140 INDIANA PACERS 112

BY AYODELE ODUMADE AT THE O2 ARENA IN LONDON

No one does it better than the Americans as the popularity of the NBA in London continues to soar.  However it is a fair bet that neither of both teams on show would feature in the NBA final come June.  However Indiana stand a good chance of at least making the play offs. The Nuggets who are 15-23 this season have been poor but having left their familiar surroundings put on a basketball clinic here as they blew out the Indiana Pacers who were well off the pace today, snapping their five game winning streak in the process.

Danilo Gallinari started the game off with a 3pointer for the Denver Nuggets.  Paul George responded for the Indiana Pacers with a couple of baskets.  He only scored ten points on the night.  He said: “They had a good game plan against us. They trapped us under the paint. We will see them again. Our performance had nothing to do with the travel here. When guys have a different agenda or go a different route we struggle. This has got to stop.”

Nate McMillan the Pacers coach said:” I thought we played a lot of one on one basketball which led to transition and a lot of shots for them. They had 15 fast break points. I thought that was the difference early in the game.  They seemed to be much faster throughout the game. We seemed to be like we were running in mud. We were trailing the whole night. It was a total domination.”  He went on to say “We had mental errors. They beat us to the game all night long. We did not show up tonight and it a game we have to put behind us.

The Nuggets were excellent and this was reflected in how they shared the scoring of baskets as five of their players finished in double figures on the other hand the Pacers had five players in double figures.  Danilo Gallinari of the Nuggets said:” I am happy with my performance but I am even happy with our game and the fact that we were able to put on a great show for the fans. I am glad the NBA chose us to come here this year.”  Danilo finished with 18 points including four 3 pointers.

Nikola Jokic who was the highest scorer on the night with 22 points who battled through a recent illness said: “ I am happy we won the game and I am happy with my game. It was won of our best performances. We needed to play good defence individually but play well as a team.  I just want to help my team whether it is offence or defence.”