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Anyone who has been following the Indiana Pacers recently knows that their offense has been sorely lacking. 75 points against Philadelphia and 94 against Milwaukee magnifies that issue perfectly.

Tuesday night’s game against the Denver Nuggets at Conseco Fieldhouse would be one that nobody – from the players and coaches to the crowd of 11,122 – saw it coming.

What transpired was the Pacers shooting a sick 64.4 percent from the floor (53.3% from beyond the arc) and exploding for a franchise-high 54 points in the third quarter. The offensive explosion certainly made things easy for at least one night as Indiana shellacked Denver 144-113.

The Pacers shot 52 percent in the first half to take a 59-49 lead at the intermission. While 52 percent is very good, it would get better for Indiana in the third quarter as they exploded for 54 points, on 20-21 shooting, and 17 assists (that’s not a typo – 17 assists in the third period). That bit of offensive largesse enabled the Pacers to go into the fourth quarter with an insurmountable 113-76 cushion; they would coast the rest of the way.

Six Pacers scored in double-digits, led by Mike Dunleavy with 31 points (including 6 three-pointers) along with a rebound, 3 assists and a block while Darren Collison added 29 (including four treys) with 3 rebounds, 6 assists and a steal. Tyler Hansbrough came off the bench to chip in 20 with 9 rebounds, 3 assists and a block while Danny Granger poured in 19 (including three 3-pointers) with 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals.

Roy Hibbert was again solid as he scored 17 with 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks while Brandon Rush, in his first game back after serving a 5-game suspension, added 16 with 7 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal.

The Nuggets were led by Ty Lawson with 19 points along with 3 rebounds and 3 assists while Arron Afflalo added 17 with 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Gary Forbes chipped in 16 (including 3 treys) with 2 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal.

Indiana (3-3) plays again on Friday night when they host the Houston Rockets while Denver (4-4) returns home to host the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night.