Game Preview: San Antonio Spurs vs. Indiana Pacers
Pop and the Spurs face a worthy coaching nemesis
It always feels good to snap a losing streak. And in a season full of such streaks, and low on victories, every win feels cathartic. However, Wembymania aside, there’s still a section of the season left to play in a league where you have to able to move on quickly.
After very publicly thwarting his rookie rival, Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs are going to have their hands full with one of the best offenses in the league as the Rick Carlisle and the Pacers come to town.
Long considered to be one of the most dangerous strategic minds in the NBA coaching community, Carlisle has once again revitalized a poor-to-middling team with savvy scheming and an ability to improvise and adjust that defined his largely successful tenure in Dallas.
Carlisle’s teams are known for being tough, disciplined, and flexible, and present a very different challenge from the Spurs last opponent.
As it stands, the Pacers lead the league in scoring, points in the paint, field-goal percentage, effective field-goal percentage, assists per game, assist ratio, and assist-to-turnover ratio. They’re also 2nd in offensive rating and pace, 3rd in points off of turnovers, and 4th in fast break points.
Simply put, they’re a high-speed, highly efficient group of passers and shooters, who avoid mistakes of their own and punish opponents for theirs. And this is in spite of injuries to their best player.
Suffice it to say that the Spurs cannot afford the youthful mistakes they’ve been prone to making for most of this season, or things are likely to get out of control, fast.
The keys to the game for the Spurs will be beating the Pacers on the boards where they’re weak (26th in 2nd chance points given up, 27th in defensive rebound percentage), taking advantage of their spotty defense (26th in defensive rating), exploiting their interior (29th in points given up in the paint), and keeping turnovers to an absolute minimum.
It should be a real test for the Spurs’ slowly improving defense, but they’ve just knocked off a more balanced team in Oklahoma City, so anything’s possible!
Or at least, anything’s possible so long as hardwood necromancer and Spurs nemesis Rick Carlisle doesn’t have time to scheme for it. (If you can’t tell I still haven’t forgiven him for the opening round hall of horrors he inflicted on San Antonio’s most recent title team)
Indiana Pacers at San Antonio Spurs
March 3rd, 2024 | 6:00 CT
Watch: CW35 |Listen: WOAI (1200 AM)
Spurs Injuries: Charles Bassey – Out (Knee), Julian Champagnie – Out (Ankle)
Pacers Injuries: Doug McDermott – Out (calf), Ben Sheppard – Day-to-Day (Illness)
What to watch for:
Dominick Barlow: Full Time Player
After playing with maximum energy and hustle on a two-way contract over the last two seasons Barlow was finally rewarded with a well-deserved roster spot in the wake of buyout so last minute that Marcus Morris must have been pouring barrels of sweat. It’s quite a statement of confidence from the Spurs considering it involved ignoring a beloved and recently waived former Spur, and the it fills a desperate need for big man depth on a team that’s had trouble figuring out how to make things work in the front-court when Wemby’s not in the game. While neither Barlow nor Collins are spectacular rim defenders or rebounders, the ability to switch from one to the other whenever one’s having a rough night is a big deal, and has been sorely needed since Charles Bassey went down with an injury for the season. Barlow’s positioning and sense of space has made him a particularly good play defensively, even if he’s no block lobster, and it’s likely he’ll get his share of minutes in this one with Julian Champagnie out for the night. It’s always nice to see these kinds of success stories as PATFO pull yet another quality role-player out of the ether. Some things never change.
For the Pacers’ fans’ perspective, visit Indy Cornrows.
PtR’s Game thread will be up this evening for those who want to chat through the game. You can also follow along with the action through PtR’s Twitter feed.
