Week in Review: Spurs exchange blowouts with Pacers in Paris
French fans got plenty of highlights, but not much in the way of competitive NBA basketball.
Welcome to the Week in Review: a Monday feature that looks back at the week that was for the San Antonio Spurs, takes a look at the week ahead, and more. Enjoy!
Week 13: After winning their second game in Los Angeles (after the first was postponed due to the wildfires), the Spurs went on to have a pretty miserable rest of the week. First in a home-home miniseries against the Memphis Grizzlies then on the road in Miami, the Spurs fell into a disturbing trend of getting out to double digit-leads early before completely falling apart, usually in the third quarter where they gave up at least 40 points in all three losses.
Week 14: 1-1 (20-23, 12th in West)
140-110 win vs. Indiana Pacers (Paris)
Recap: Flipping the script from their three prior losses, after a tight first half, the Spurs exploded in the third quarter, outscoring the Pacers 45-23 to bust the game wide open for their first win in 10 days. Victor Wembanyama put on a show for his home country, Harrison Barnes couldn’t miss, Jeremy Sochan made a triumphant return from back injury, and Devin Vassell continued his steak of scoring 20+ points. Corner turned?
98-136 loss vs. Indiana Pacers (Paris)
Recap: Nope, corner not turned. The Pacers were hyped up and ready to return the favor after that embarrassment, and did they ever. The Spurs came out flat and bothered by the Pacers’ full court press, and after a flurry from Wemby in the second quarter and Barnes and Stephon Castle after halftime to briefly tie things up, the Spurs once again completely collapsed while the Pacers outscored them 57-18 in the final 15 minutes of the game, delivering their seventh loss in nine games.
Power Rankings
John Schuhmann, NBA.com — 21 (last week: 21)
OffRtg: 111.7 (18) DefRtg: 113.6 (19) NetRtg: -1.8 (20) Pace: 99.6 (14)
Having split their two games in Paris, the Spurs are just 2-7 over the last 23 days and two games out of a SoFi Play-In Tournament spot in the West.
Three takeaways
1. The Spurs rank 29th defensively (119.9 points allowed per 100 possessions) over the 2-7 stretch. As usual, they’ve been much better with Victor Wembanyama on the floor (115.3 allowed per 100) than they’ve been with him off the floor (123.5) over the nine games, though that former number is still well above the league average.
2. A season-high 24 turnovers (14 of them live balls) didn’t help the defense on Saturday. The Spurs have committed more turnovers than their opponents in five straight games and their season-long differential (1.8 per game more than their opponents) ranks 27th and is exactly what it was last season. They’ve committed just 13.6 turnovers per 100 possessions with Chris Paul on the floor, but 15.9 per 100 with him off the floor.
3. Harrison Barnes was a bright spot in Paris, totaling 45 points on 18-for-25 shooting over the two games. Barnes’ usage rate (14.7%) is tied for the lowest of his career, but he’s registering career-best marks in effective field goal percentage (59.6%) and true shooting percentage (63.8%).
Back in the States, the Spurs will have a couple of more days off before starting a stretch of four straight games against teams that rank in the top 10 defensively.
Brett Siegel, Clutch Points — 22 (last week: 21)
Victor Wembanyama got to return home this past week and play in front of his Paris faithful. The French phenom put together some impressive performances against the Pacers, dropping 30 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, and five blocks in a 140-110 victory over Indiana. He then had 20 points and 12 rebounds in the Spurs’ 38-point defeat. The Spurs have been trending in the wrong direction as of late in the NBA power rankings, as they’ve lost seven of their last nine games.
Coming up: Wed. 1/29 vs. Los Angeles Clippers; Fri. 1/31 vs. Milwaukee Bucks; Sat. 2/1 vs. Miami Heat
Prediction: 1-2 — Part of me really wants to go 2-1, but it’s just hard to trust this team right now, even at home. The brutal January schedule concludes with the Clippers and Bucks, and while the Spurs blew out the Clippers last time they came to San Antonio, they now have Kawhi Leonard back, and he has been solid (if unspectacular) for them. The Bucks burned the Spurs pretty badly earlier this month, so there’s some proving ground there as well. Finally, they conclude with a Heat team that is still going through the Jimmy Butler saga but also burned the Spurs a week ago. I expect revenge against them ahead of the Rodeo Road Trip, but the other two games are wild cards.
