San Antonio Spurs 140 – Indiana Pacers 110 (Jan. 23rd, 2025)

Source: Aurelien Meunier / Getty

(PARIS, FR) – Victor Wembanyama dominates the Indiana Pacers (24-20) in his return home as the San Antonio Spurs (19-22) cruise to a 140-110 victory on Thursday.

1. First Quarter

For the second consecutive game at full strength, the Indiana Pacers starting lineup was Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Bennedict Mathurin, Pascal Siakam, and Myles Turner. Both teams got off to slow starts as they acclimated to the arena in Paris. San Antonio had an early four-point lead through the first two minutes of the contest. Indiana’s first lead came from Mathurin on a layup. The largest lead for the Pacers in the opening quarter was four points when Siakam drilled a three-pointer with 7:25 left. San Antonio called a timeout and answered with a 10-2 run to take an 18-14 lead following a Devin Vassell triple. Indiana would come back and tie the game at 22 with Obi Toppin’s third three of the of the quarter. The Spurs closed the quarter out by outscoring the Pacers by one to lead 30-29. Toppin led all scorers with 11 points in the first twelve minutes. San Antonio’s leading scorer was Victor Wembanyama with 10 points. Indiana held San Antonio to 4/12 shooting from three-point range, but the Spurs shot 9/15 on two-point shots.

2. Second Quarter

It was a back and forth first quarter, and the second quarter would follow suit. However, Indiana would show signs of slippage. Indiana would open the second quarter with six straight points to take a five-point lead after a Mathurin dunk. At the time it was 35-30 with 9:21 left in the half. San Antonio countered with a 15-6 burst to take command of the game again when Vassell splashed a three to make it 47-43. The Pacers would come back to tie it with two free throws from Nembhard with 3:42 remaining in the half, but never had the lead following that tie. San Antonio held onto a 60-57 lead going into halftime. Mathurin led all scorers in the quarter with 8 points. San Antonio’s leading scorer in the quarter was Vassell with 7 points. Leading all scorers at halftime was Wembanyama with 15 points. Indiana’s leading scorers were Haliburton and Toppin with 11 points. The Spurs continued to dominate the Pacers inside the three-point line, shooting 18/28.

3. Third Quarter

At various points in the season, Indiana has had struggles starting the second half. Unfortunately for the Pacers, those struggles were the entire second half. San Antonio was able to slowly extend its lead to double figures when Wembanyama converted a 28-foot three pointer with 8:46 remaining in the period. Indiana would trim its deficit to nine points with 6:14 left in the quarter when Mathurin converted back-to-back shots at the rim. San Antonio called a timeout and the outscored Indiana 14-3 to go ahead by twenty points in less than three minutes of game action. The quarter would end with a Wembanyama putback layup to take a 105-80 advantage to the fourth quarter. Harrison Barnes outscored Wembanyama by a point to be the leading scorer in the quarter with 9 points. Indiana’s leading scorers were Mathurin and Turner with 7 points. Wembanyama continued to pace all scorers with 24 points going into the final twelve minutes. Vassell was second in scoring with 22 points and then it was Mathurin with 17 points through three quarters.

4. Fourth Quarter

Knowing that his team’s hill to climb was steep, Rick Carlisle elected to run the starting five out for the start of the quarter hoping to gain some momentum…except it didn’t. San Antonio was able to hold onto a twenty-point lead for nearly the entire quarter. The only time it did was when Indiana scored seven points in less than a minute to cut the twenty-five-point deficit to eighteen points. The Spurs quickly countered with the official knockout blow run. In the next 2:38 of game action, they held the Pacers to two points while scoring twelve points. San Antonio’s lead was twenty-eight points and would eventually hit thirty points within the final minute when Sidy Cissoko converted a layup. Indiana missed the final shot of the game and fell to San Antonio 140-110.

5. Top Performers

Victor Wembanyama (30p, 11r, 6a, 5b), Devin Vassell (25p, 4a, 3r, 2s, 2b), Harrison Barnes (20p, 7r, 3a, 2s), Jeremy Sochan (13p, 9r, 3a), and Tre Jones (11p, 8a, 4r). For Indiana, Bennedict Mathurin (24p, 3r, 2s), Pascal Siakam (18p, 6a, 4r), Myles Turner (14p, 3r), Tyrese Haliburton (13p, 7a, 2r), and Obi Toppin (13p, 3r, 2a). For the full box score, click here.

6. Notes

Indiana is now 24-20
Indiana’s leading rebounded was Pascal Siakam and Andrew Nembhard with 4
- First time this season a player failed to record 5 rebounds in a game
- Last time it happened for Indiana was 2/6/24 vs Houston
  - Last time it happened prior to that was 12/11/2006 vs Chicago Bulls in 106-91 loss. Maceo Baston was team’s leading rebounder with 4
- Indiana’s rebounding differential of -26 is a season low
- San Antonio snaps its three-game losing streak with the win
- San Antonio scored 80 points in the second half
- San Antonio’s 45 points in the third quarter are the most points scored in a quarter against the Pacers this season
- San Antonio’s 140 points are the second most points the Pacers have given up in a season
  - Season high for the Spurs – who average 111.6 points per game
  - Boston Celtics scored 142 points against the Pacers earlier in the season
- San Antonio recorded 43 assists on 58 field goals
- Aaron Nesmith played 19 minutes in the loss
  - Played in a combined 20 minutes in his first two games back from his ankle injury
- Bennedict Mathurin has scored 20+ points in 14 games this season
- Bennedict Mathurin’s 24 points are the most in a game since scoring 25 points vs Milwaukee on New Years Eve
- Bennedict Mathurin’s 11 field goals made are the second most in a game this season
- Devin Vassell has scored 20+ points in 5 consecutive games
  - Vassell has scored 20+ points in 11 games this season (27 games played)
- Harrison Barnes has scored 20+ points in 6 games this season (42 games played)
- Myles Turner’s 14 points are the fewest in a game this season when taking at least 15 field goal attempts
- Victor Wembanyama has recorded 5+ blocks in 11 games this season
- Victor Wembanyama has recorded a block in 76 consecutive games – Spurs franchise record
- Victor Wembanyama has scored 30+ points in 10 games this season
- Victor Wembanyama recorded his 20th double-double on the season
  - Wembanyama has recorded 30+ points and 10+ rebounds nine times

7. Next Up

Indiana and San Antonio will have a day off before competing for the second time in Paris. Pat Boylan will get things started on Saturday morning at 11:30am and then Mark Boyle and Eddie Gill will have the play-by-play coverage at 12pm on 93.5/107.5 The Fan.

San Antonio Spurs 140 – Indiana Pacers 110 (Jan. 23rd, 2025)