Three observations from Nuggets win at Indiana: Aaron Gordon reads the room, Pacers rookie the latest to catch fire

For all the things Aaron Gordon did well in the Nuggets’ 122-119 comeback win against the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, his ability to read the room was arguably the most impressive.

In the minutes before Nikola Jokic was sidelined with foul trouble Wednesday, Gordon let the offense come to him and played his role as the fourth or fifth offensive option. As Jokic missed big chunks of the first three quarters, Gordon revisited his role from last year where he had a little bit more freedom to create for himself with Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. out.

“I was just trying to play downhill, be aggressive,” Gordon said postgame on the Altitude broadcast.

“I started getting to the foul line, just started to put my head down and show everybody that we wanted to be here.”

That approach was key as the Nuggets erased an 18-point deficit to start a four-game road trip with a pair of wins. Gordon finished with 18 points, 16 rebounds, six assists, one steal and a block. He finished one rebound shy of his career high, earned a season-high nine free throws, seven of which he made, and was gifted the team’s defensive-player-of-the-game chain in the postgame locker room.

“I’m just out there playing,” Gordon said. “That’s it.”

Some of that included manning the center position. Jeff Green also faced early foul trouble, and DeAndre Jordan played just 18 minutes, so Gordon was on the court alongside Murray, Bones Hyland, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Porter. Whatever was required, Gordon was up for.

“We just had to hold our own until big fella (Jokic) got back,” Gordon said.

Firefighters needed

For the second time this season, The Nuggets faced a fire they struggled to put out.

Bennedict Mathurin’s 5-for-5 start from 3-point range Wednesday was reminiscent of Anfernee Simons’ 22-point third quarter in Portland on Oct. 24. Simons hit six triples in the quarter, torching Denver’s defense en route to a win over the Nuggets. Murray, Porter, Gordon, Bruce Brown and Caldwell-Pope all had chances to throw water on the Blazers guard’s night but had little success.

At 6-foot-6, Mathurin has a few inches on Simons. The Nuggets tried to counter with some increased size, but the rookie out of Arizona got similarly hot to Simons. He walked into uncontested shots for his first two 3-pointers. Mathurin then hit one over Jeff Green and took advantage when the Nuggets veteran got tripped up by a screen on his next shot. He concluded his hot start by splashing his fifth 3-pointer over Gordon’s contest.

The Nuggets got more stops on Mathurin, who finished 10 of 17 from the field and 6 of 9 from 3, to avoid a similar defeat to the one in Portland.

Rotation notes

The Nuggets stuck with their plan of staggering Michael Porter Jr. with four reserves and finished the night with nine players receiving playing time.

Rookie Christian Braun, who impressed early in the season, was the odd man out Wednesday. After missing a couple of games with an ankle sprain, Zeke Nnaji was available, according to the team, but did not play even with Jokic in foul trouble.

Porter finished with a season-high 36 minutes, while Murray played at least 30 minutes for the fourth time in five games. Murray played 23 minutes in Saturday’s win over the Spurs.

NUGGETS 122, PACERS 119

What happened: The Nuggets led by 12 in the first quarter before things went south in the second. Pacers rookie Bennedict Mathurin got hot. Nikola Jokic picked up his fourth foul with 6:40 left in the second, and the Pacers led by 14 at halftime behind a 43-21 advantage in the second. The Nuggets closed the deficit to six to start the fourth quarter despite Jokic picking up his fifth foul in the first minute of the second half. Jokic returned for the final nine-plus minutes, helping the Nuggets stretch their win streak to four and improve to 8-3.

What went right: Denver’s closing duo came through in another close game. Jokic, who finished with a team-high 24 points, and Jamal Murray, who added 18 more, combined to score all 12 of Denver’s points in the final six minutes. Jokic hit the go-ahead jumper with 35 seconds left and Murray finished it off by making three free throws with 22 seconds left.

What went wrong: Jokic didn’t appear all the way locked in. Whether it was the inability to avoid fouls in the second and third quarters or his ill-advised shot with 8.6 seconds left that allowed Indiana a shot that would’ve sent it to overtime, focus appeared to be an issue. He still led the Nuggets in scoring despite only playing 20 minutes and added six assists, four rebounds, two steals and a block.

Highlight of the night: In the first half, Mathurin put on a show worthy of the sixth overall pick — if not higher. The 20-year-old came off the bench and hit his first five 3-pointers and scored 18 of his game-high 30 points in the second quarter alone. On the Nuggets side, Jeff Green drove for another highlight dunk, this one over Isaiah Jackson.

On deck: The Nuggets head to Boston for Friday’s game before concluding a four-game road trip Sunday in Chicago.