Indiana 9th Eastern Conference34-38
Denver 3rd Western Conference47-25
FSN, Altitude Sports

Indiana @ Denver preview

Ball Arena

Last Meeting ( Mar 4, 2021 ) Denver 113, Indiana 103

The Indiana Pacers celebrated a win at Phoenix on Saturday night, but there was something bigger than a victory over a hot team.

Caris LeVert scored 13 points in his Indiana debut, but the bigger feat was getting on the court. LeVert, acquired from Brooklyn in a three-team deal earlier this year, had a cancerous tumor removed from his kidney in January that was discovered during a physical.

LeVert took joy in returning to action after a period of uncertainty.

"A month and a half ago, two months ago, I didn't even know if I knew I was even going to be out here, especially this soon, just with everything that happened, so it's definitely a level of gratefulness and just happy to be on the court," LeVert said after the win.

The win Saturday snapped a two-game skid. The Pacers try to get their second win in a row when they play at the Denver Nuggets on Monday night.

The matchup will feature two All-Stars and players capable of triple-doubles. Domantas Sabonis had 22 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in the win over the Suns a week after appearing in the All-Star Game in Atlanta.

His teammate on Team LeBron, Denver center Nikola Jokic, is having an MVP-caliber season. He has nine triple-doubles this season -- 50 in his short career -- and just missed another in a home loss to Dallas on Saturday night.

Jokic had 26 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds on a night when Denver looked sluggish on the second of back-to-back games.

The Nuggets scored the first 10 points and then the Mavericks took over for an easy win.

"I thought we were very stagnant on offense, a lot of standing around, a lot of ball-watching, a lot of poor shots," Denver coach Michael Malone said. "That's not who we've been. Hopefully, we can get some rest and come back on Monday night, against Indiana, and try to play a 48-minute game."

The Nuggets have been battling through injuries most of the season, and even when they have gotten players back someone else is out. Saturday, JaMychal Green returned from a shoulder injury, but Monte Morris was sidelined with a strained quad.

Add to that is Jamal Murray's two-game slump. He missed 13 of 14 shots and scored three points at Memphis on Friday night and his 4-for-13 shooting against Dallas continued his struggles. He had 10 points Saturday night.

Malone isn't worried about his star guard.

"Prior to a 1-for-14 outing, Jamal's numbers and consistency have been remarkable," Malone said. "Obviously, we know he is going to get back to that."

LeVert's return not only added to Indiana's depth, it provided an emotional lift.

"Absolutely, he energized our team, and his character level is so high," coach Nate Bjorkgren said Saturday night. "He's such a good person. He's been a great teammate throughout this entire time that he's been out, so our guys were very happy to have him back out there on the court."

--Field Level Media

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