The Spurs put together another win tonight to wrap up the preseason with a perfect 5-0 record, but the Pacers made them work for it by playing tough defense and hitting their shots in a closely played
first half. Coach Lloyd Pierce, subbing out for Rick Carlisle, rested his starters at halftime, and the Spurs followed suit a few moments later. The Spurs are a deep team this year, and their bench is better than the Pacers bench, and they were able to gain separation in the third quarter, leading to a fourth quarter dominated by the Spurs’ third string lineup, along with Carter Bryant, who continues to impress with his athletic play on both sides of the court. Garbage time was dominated by David Jones-Garcia who will be spending most of his time in Austin this year, with some nice play from Micah Potter, who won’t be on the roster in a few days. The final score was 133-104, but it was a lot closer than that before the Pacers took their starters off the floor. It was a good contest for the Spurs as they had to play hard to keep the game under control early.
Observations
- Bennedict Mathurin was a flamethrower in the previous game, hitting his first nine shots. Tonight it was Julian Champagnie who started off red hot, but the Pacers heated up after the first quarter to retake the lead.
- Coach Rick Carlisle took the night off, with Lloyd Pierce taking over for the night. Pierce had his team playing in your face defense and full court pressing the Spurs all night, so he didn’t make things any easier for the Silver and Black.
- Steph started off building his Castle early with a alley-oop dunk on a two on one break sarted with a Castle steal.
- Is it time to talk about Victor Wembanyama’s decision making? His talent level is unworldly, but sometime it leads him into trying things that no mortal should even try, often resulting in ugly turnovers. I respect the ambition, but there are some plays that even Victor can’t even do. Maybe it’s just preseason, but he could be more effective sometimes by simplifying things sometimes. He might have heard something at the half, because he looked much more efficient in his limited play in the second half.
- Dylan Harper never looks like he’s hurrying. He always plays under control.
- Carter Bryant entered the game in the first quarter. Signs of things to come?
- The announcers were calling the twin towers lineup of Kornet and Wembanyama ‘French Vanilla.’ It’s hilarious, and pretty effective also.
- It felt like the Spurs weren’t playing their best to start the game, but they led 39-28 after the first quarter, but it could have been much more if the Spurs had played a cleaner game.
- The Pacers got hot in the second quarter and took advantage of the slowness of the Spurs defensive rotations to get open three point shots and knock them down, retaking the lead halfway through the second quarter. That was a major weakness of last year’s team, and it’s not solved yet, but it’s still preseason.
- The Spurs led 66-63 at the half just holding off a high energy surge by the Pacers to barely hold onto the lead.
- Coach Pierce decided to sit Mathurin and Siakam at halftime, and although the Pacers came out with a lot of energy to start the second half, especially Gabe McGlothin, who looks really good for Indiana. The Spurs matched that energy and Wembanyama dominated as the Spurs reestablished a double digit over the team in the yellow jerseys. Halfway through the third quarter, Mitch sat Castle and Wemby, and the handshake seemed to indicate that they were done for the night.
- With Dylan Harper and Keldon Johnson leading the charge, the Spurs led 101-88 after three quarters.
- Former Spur Cam Payne might have been the best player for the Pacers in the second half.
- Carter Bryant isn’t shy to take over the game in crunch time. I really hope he gets some time in the rotation this season, because his activity on defense if game changing.
- Micah Potter doesn’t look like a basketball player, but he sure plays like one.
- David Jones-Garcia finally got into the game in the last five minutes and instantly had an impact with two sweet assists to Umude. He was robbed of a chance at a four point play in the last minute as the ref disallowed his three point shot that went in after Slawson fouled him.
Well, that’s it for the preseason, and it’s been a promising run. The Silver and Black has looked very good for a couple of weeks, but when they face the Mavericks and Cooper Flagg next Tuesday night, both teams will be 0-0, and we will see Mitch Johnson and Jason Kidd play their regular rotations for 48 minutes. This is the first season in almost 30 years that the Spurs have started with a new head coach, and although Mitch is a Pop disciple, he’s going to do things his own way, and that’s going to be interesting to watch. The Spurs won’t be at full strength for at least a few weeks as De’Aaron Fox, Jeremy Sochan, and now Lindy Waters III will not be ready at the start of the season. This is a team that might get better as the season goes on, but an opening win would be a treat for Spurs fans everywhere.
