MEXICO CITY (AP) — Nikola Jokic scored 10 of his 19 points in the first quarter and the Denver Nuggets beat the Indiana Pacers 114-102 in Mexico City.
Jokic also grabbed 13 rebounds and dished out eight assists, while Cameron Johnson added 18 points and Jamal Murray finished with 16 for the Nuggets, who have won four of their last five games.
“I just try to play the game the right way, hopefully we can win more games; to win is the most important thing, I do not think about stats,” Jokic said.
Pascal Siakam scored 23 points and Larry Nance Jr. added 15 off the bench for the Pacers, who were the home team in the NBA’s 35th game played south of the border. Indiana has lost five of its last six games.
The Pacers played without All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton, who missed the trip due to a hamstring strain.
Denver capitalized on a four-minute Indiana scoring drought in the second quarter with a 15-0 run. Murray's jumper extended the Nuggets’ lead to 64-37 — their largest of the game — with less than a minute remaining in the first half.
“It was tough environment, we are not used to this, the altitude and everything is hard to get going,” Siakam said. “Our force and energy was better in the second half, but it was not enough.”
The Pacers responded in the third quarter, pulling closer following back-to-back 3-pointers from Aaron Nesmith that cut the score to 79-67. A layup by Quenton Jackson with 1:16 left in the quarter further trimmed Denver’s lead to 10.
Jarace Walker hit a 3-pointer that brought Indiana within 102-95 with 7:26 left to play, but the Nuggets answered with six straight points to restore a double-digit lead and secure the win.
The game marked the 35th NBA appearance in the country since the league first brought exhibition games to Mexico in 1992.
No country outside the United States and Canada has hosted more.
Of those 34 previous matchups, 15 were regular-season games, and the last 12 — including Saturday’s tilt between Indiana and Denver — sold out.
“The energy was awesome, I got to admit that there is an atmosphere to this building, when we got out on the court you could feel the juice, and the energy,” said Nuggets coach David Adelman. “The NBA is global and it belongs here too.”
Up next
Nuggets: At Houston on Monday night.
Pacers: At Dallas on Monday night.
