LDN - Sports

Oladipo scores 47 as Pacers top Nuggets in OT

[December 11, 2017] INDIANAPOLIS -- Pacers guard Victor Oladipo shrugged off the MVP chants from the Indiana crowd.

"I don't care about stuff like that," he said. "I got a lot of work to do."

From his nearby locker, teammate Myles Turner added, "It's looking pretty good."

Oladipo scored a career-high 47 points to lead the Pacers to a 126-116 overtime victory over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night.

"I have no limits to how hard I work," Oladipo said. "I'm trying to be great. There's no in-between, and I can't settle for anything less."

Nate McMillan said he didn't know too much about Oladipo before the shooting guard came to Indiana this summer in the Paul George trade from Oklahoma City, but the Pacers coach loves what he is learning.

"The kid brings such a positive attitude to the locker room and to the game," McMillan said. "He's playing with a (great) deal of confidence and with people like that. He works on his game every day, and he's all about team. It's not selfish. It's within the framework, but he is taking and making big shots."

The Pacers (16-11) produced a 12-2 advantage in overtime as Oladipo scored six points in the extra session. Denver (14-12) missed seven of eight shots in the OT while Pacers were 5 of 6 from the field

"The biggest thing in the overtime is we got stops," said Oladipo, whose team won its fourth in a row. "That's what won the game."

Oladipo sank 15 of 28 shots overall, including 6 of 12 3-point attempts. Turner scored 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting and had eight rebounds. Thaddeus Young added 18 points, hitting 8 of 11 shots for the Pacers.

"The team did a good job recognizing what the mismatches were and dropping the ball to Thaddeus and Myles," McMillan said. "They did a good job taking their time and scoring in the post."

The Pacers scored the final eight points to tie it in regulation. Oladipo's driving layup cut the Pacers' deficit to 114-112 with 55 seconds left. Following an Oladipo miss, Young's put-back tied it 114-all with 5.5 seconds to go. Denver's Will Barton missed a shot to win it at the buzzer.

"We tried to minimize their penetration," Oladipo said. "They started to hit some tough shots. We did a great job of calming down."

Trey Lyles, a 2014 Indiana Mr. Basketball who played for Arsenal Tech High School in Indianapolis, scored a career-high 25 points for Denver off the bench.

"He kept us in it," Denver coach Michael Malone said. "He made big shot after big shot, got hot from 3-point line shooting 5 of 7, and that's one of reasons we kept him out there."

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Nuggets guard Gary Harris (14) is guarded by Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo (4) during overtime at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Lyles scored 15 points in the fourth quarter. Gary Harris, from the Indianapolis suburb of Fishers, and Will Barton each had 21 points and Wilson Chandler scored 18 for Denver. Barton contributed a career-high nine assists.

The Pacers sank 49 of 93 shots (52.7 percent) while Denver was 43 of 95 from the field (45.3 percent).

Malone said he was proud of his team's effort.

"Let's not forget who we're missing," said Malone, referring to injured starters Paul Millsap and Nikola Jokic. "I'm very disappointed in the loss, but thrilled with the fact we gave ourselves a chance."

Malone said committing 22 turnovers and being outscored 62-40 in the paint hurt.

Indiana outscored the Nuggets 31-22 to turn a 66-59 halftime deficit into a 90-88 lead after three quarters.

The Nuggets' largest lead was 19 points (53-34) with 6:31 to go in the second quarter.

With Denver on top 64-50, the Pacers used a 9-2 run the rest of the half to cut the halftime deficit to seven.

Chandler scored 14 points, including three 3-pointers, in the opening quarter to help the Nuggets grab a 35-22 lead.

NOTES: Pacers G Darren Collison sat out the game with a sore left knee. Cory Joseph started in his place, scoring two points on 1-of-7 shooting. Collison, who started the first 26 games this season, aggravated a knee injury in Friday night's victory over Cleveland and didn't play in the fourth quarter. ... Nuggets G Jamal Murray was listed as questionable with right calf tightness but was able to start. He scored 13 points. Monte Morris had been transferred from G League Rio Grande to Denver in case Murray couldn't play. ... The teams' second meeting is April 3 in Denver, where the Pacers have lost seven in a row. The Pacers have eight consecutive road losses to the Nuggets since Denver was the home team for last season's game in London.

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