INDIANAPOLIS — The 3-pointer that buried the Pacers on Tuesday night happened because of a defensive mishap. Actually, it was not so much a mistake as it was a collection of defensible judgment calls that ultimately led to the most undesired outcome.

The Pacers cut Denver's lead to 111-109 with 27.9 seconds to go when newly-acquired forward Pascal Siakam put back his own miss for a layup, and they opted not to try to foul with 3.9 seconds separating the game and shot clock. Forward Aaron Nesmith and center Myles Turner tried to trap Nuggets guard Jamal Murray about six feet inside the timeline with 10 seconds left, but two-time MVP Nikola Jokic tried to set a screen and then slipped over to the top of the key where Murray found him open with a pass at the 3-point line.

Rookie guard Ben Sheppard was there to show some help, but he broke to his right to make sure sharpshooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope wasn't alone at the left elbow where Jokic could tee him up for a 3. Turner tried to recover, but he broke first down to the free-throw line, expecting Jokic to drive or try to pass. Instead, Jokic pulled up to shoot. Turner closed out well enough to get a hand in his face but not enough to disrupt his motion, and Jokic drilled the 3-pointer that sealed the Nuggets' 114-109 win with 4.7 seconds to go.

It was a shot that capped a triple-double for the incomparable Jokic, who finished with 31 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, another performance that helps make his case for a third MVP award. In two wins against the Pacers in eight days, he scored 66 points on 25 of 32 shooting, grabbed 25 rebounds and dished out 19 assists.

"The two defining plays were the 3 at the end of the first and the 3 that put the game away," Carlisle said, describing two 3-pointers by Jokic. "He's much more aggressive to look for those shots. There's just zero hesitation on them. We were up on a couple of them and he went over. Those are great players making great plays."

But one of the only bad things you could say about the Pacers' defense Tuesday night was they couldn't stop the man who might be the best player in the world. In fact, the biggest reason the Pacers managed to put the Nuggets in position to need a dagger 3 from Jokic with 4.7 seconds to go was how well they defended, especially in the fourth quarter. They rallied back from a 13-point fourth quarter deficit to tie the score at the 4:18, 2:59 and 2:29 marks, holding the Nuggets to just 21 fourth-quarter points, just 1.01 per possession. Denver was 8-of-16 from the floor in the quarter with four turnovers. Jokic hit five of those field goals and the rest of the team was 3-of-11 from the floor.

That's a sign of an evolution for the Pacers, one that started on Dec. 26 when they brought Nesmith and big man Jalen Smith into their starting lineup to use more size, and it took a step to another level last week when they traded for two-time All-NBA power forward Pascal Siakam. As they integrate Siakam into the lineup, they are still figuring out who they can be defensively and what they can do. However, they know already they have a lot more options and solutions to problems than they used to have and that they are a drastically better defensive unit than they were a month ago, when they were one of the league's worst dragging down the most explosive and efficient offense in the NBA.

The Pacers have still lost three straight games, the past two of them without All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton, and have faded back to seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings at 24-20. However, their offensive potency is bound to return when Haliburton comes back or shortly thereafter, and the Pacers finally seem well-built enough defensively to make their scoring numbers hold up.

"Defense is important," Carlisle said. "... We've played bigger defenders, better rebounders, etc., and our emphasis on it is not going to waiver."

The seasons' first 28 games are still dragging down the Pacers' overall defensive metrics and they haven't been so stingy in the past 16 games to crawl out of the league's bottom tier. They still rank 28th in points allowed (122.9 per game) and 27th in defensive rating (119.5 points per 100 possessions.) They're last in the league in defensive field goal percentage, allowing opponents to make 50.4% of their shots, and 27th in effective field goal percentage defense at .564.

But in the past 15 games, the Pacers rank 19th in the league in points allowed (117.9 per game) and 17th in defensive rating (116.6). They're 24th in field goal percentage defense (.494), but 17th in effective field goal percentage defense at .558 because they've good at defending the 3-ball. Teams have shot 35.6% from 3-point range against the Pacers in those games, which is the 12th-best figure in the league. Obviously, those aren't top half of the league figures, but they're more than serviceable for a team that is tied for the league lead in scoring with 124.6 points per game and leads in offensive rating at 121.0 points per 100 possessions.

In the first 28 games, the Pacers never held an opponent under 111 points and gave up at least 130 eight times. In the 16 games since, they've held three teams under 110. They've given up 130 or more three times — twice in wins over the first-place Celtics and second-place Bucks, and a third in a loss to the Jazz in which they were missing Haliburton, Nesmith and since-traded Bruce Brown.

"It's just a decision that needed to be made by all of us that getting better defensively was important," Carlisle said last week during the Pacers' road trip even before they got Siakam. "We needed to get bigger. We needed to rebound better and we needed a better commitment."

Before the Pacers got Siakam, getting bigger meant taking a bit of a risk. Smith had played power forward before and he had the shooting skill for the position on offense, plus he's the Pacers' best rebounder on a per-36 minute basis. But he had been moved out of the spot before because he'd struggled to keep smaller or simply more athletic power forwards in front of him. However, Nesmith, their other best defensive option for the position at 6-6, 215 pounds, was fighting valiantly but losing battles to much bigger 4 men such as Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, Paolo Banchero and Karl-Anthony Towns and losing those matchups was costing the Pacers games. Carlisle and the Pacers still considered Nesmith one of their best defenders, but thought he'd have more success if he could more frequently guard players his size, so he moved both from the bench to the starting lineup with Nesmith at the 3 and Smith at the 4.

Siakam, though, is a much more natural fit, which is why his impact on the defensive side of the floor is almost as helpful for the Pacers as what he does on offense. He might have less muscle than Smith, but he has more lateral quickness and tons of length, standing 6-8, 230 pounds with a 7-3 wingspan. He has plenty of experience guarding the world's best power forwards going back to the Raptors' 2018-19 NBA title run, so he fits exactly the hole the Pacers needed him to fill. He can also switch and take on smaller players if need be, so the Pacers don't have any problem putting him on guards if a situation calls for it.

"It's great because running back on defense sometimes, you're pressed to get to your own matchup," Nesmith said. "But with a guy like Pascal, if he's on one side of the court, I can just say, 'Hey, go get such and such and I'll take here.' It's great for us. It makes life easy and it will help us in the long run."

Over the past two seasons, the Pacers have so frequently had to simply make the most of uneven matchups. Last year, Nesmith and 6-5 guard Andrew Nembhard were always assigned to defend the opponent's top two scorers at positions 1-4, and frequently at least one of them was giving up 3-4 inches of height. This year when Nembhard and Nesmith started the season coming off the bench, a lot was being asked of Bruce Brown in terms of taking on tough matchups.

But putting Siakam on the floors makes dominos fall in a way that the Pacers can put together lineups that match their opponents. Nembhard can focus on ball-handlers and shooting guards. Nesmith can guard positions 1-3. It will be easier to hide Haliburton or Buddy Hield a less-challenging matchup.

And in part because Siakam is a good enough ball handler to run the point if need be, Carlisle can feel more comfortable putting more size on the floor from 2-4. That could mean more minutes for rookies Ben Sheppard and Jarace Walker, who each made important contributions in the last two games on both ends. Though Walker was drafted as a power forward, Carlisle said Sunday that he likes his handle, shooting ability and lateral quickness enough to use him as a small forward on both ends. Sheppard, a 6-6 guard, has the size and athleticism to play the 2 or the 3 and even occasionally some point guard. He played all 12 minutes of Tuesday's fourth quarter, scoring five points including a fast-break dunk he got off a steal that ignited the crowd.

"It gives our best on-ball defenders the ability to guard someone their size or maybe smaller," backup point guard T.J. McConnell said. "Just the switchability part, having (Siakam) being able to switch on to guards and not having to worry about him being blown by. He's an elite defender and can take our defense to the next level."

The Pacers have lost each of Siakam's first three games, but they also haven't allowed more than 118 points or more than 1.18 points per possession in any of those. The offense wasn't as explosive as it has been for most of the season in part because Haliburton has missed two of those games and apparently wasn't 100% healthy for the one he played in.

On Tuesday his individual effect was obvious. In the Pacers' Jan. 14 loss at Denver, Nuggets power forward Aaron Gordon scored 20 points on 7 of 10 shooting. With Siakam as his primary defender on Tuesday, he scored just nine points on 3 of 5 shooting.

The other matchups worked pretty well too. Nembhard started on Michael Porter Jr., who scored 25 points on 9 of 15 shooting including 7 of 11 3-pointers on Jan. 14. On Tuesday, he scored just five points on 2 of 9 shooting, 1 of 5 from 3-point range. Murray scored more points (31 to 25) but was a little less efficient, going 11 of 24 after shooting 11 of 18 in the first game. Only Jokic seemed unaffected.

The performance gave SIakam a sense that the Pacers' defense can be better than advertised.

"Before coming in, I knew how offensively talented the team was," Siakam said. "I think they've gotten better on defense also. That's something for me, I want us to continue to improve. I think that fourth quarter was an example of that. With Denver, which has the guys that they have, to be able to sit down and defend, everyone was engaged and talking. ... I thought we did decent. I think we have to have those moments more often to be able to be special."

Carlisle thinks so as well. He never gave up hope that the Pacers could be at least a passable or decent defensive team, and the finally seem to be headed in that direction.

"Having the size to matchup man-for-man makes a big difference," Carlisle said. "... Defense is gonna be a theme for us. It's gonna continue to be a big theme."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers vs. Nuggets: Pascal Siakam helps Indiana's defense evolve