Derrick White continues to approach peak form in blowout of Pacers

Maybe it’s no longer an accident that the last three mini-win streaks for the San Antonio Spurs have come on the road. There’s just something about this team that makes them perform better away from the AT&T Center this season, where they are just 12-18 compared to 16-10 away from home. That rend continued in their road victory over the Indiana Pacers, where 75% (or 27) of the Spurs’ 36 makes were assisted. Derrick White shined the brightest among a constellation of standout performances with 25 points on six three-pointers.

White nearly outscored the Pacers by himself early on with 16 points in the opening stanza. These catch-and-shoot opportunities were encouraging to see early on:

White’s four long range bombs in the opening quarter earned him part of a long-standing franchise record:

When White has been able to generate offense off the dribble, it has been a boon for his teammates:

Jakob Poeltl benefitted from White’s delivery once the Pacers’ defense keyed on the Spurs guard:

After Patty Mills was unwittingly involved later in a kerfuffle with JaKarr Sampson, White affirmed Mills’ untouchable status among the players’ and fans’ hearts (and especially Rudy Gay):

“That was crazy. I’m not sure how it started. Patty’s one of the nicest guys in the league, obviously. I don’t know how it started, but we’ve always got Pat’s back.”

The hard-charging Keldon Johnson may have figured out a new and less straightforward way to arrive at the rim:

Not to be outdone, Poeltl ran the finest fast break of his adult life :

When Gay wasn’t protecting Mills’ honor, he was playing the part of willing distributor and found Poeltl for a jam:

The table-setting was contagious this evening and Lonnie Walker IV made his move towards being an expansive threat off the bench with this nice find to Poeltl:

Dejounte Murray found DeMar DeRozan for a baseline flight to help San Antonio stay safely ahead of Indiana:

When Murray and White have shared the floor, the potential synergy between the two results in great set-ups like this one:

Here’s to hoping the Spurs bring that excellent team play home to South Texas for the next two home games!