4 Takeaways from Indiana Pacers’ historical win over San Antonio Spurs

The Indiana Pacers have put themselves on the map in just the seventh game of the season.

Following a heartbreaking loss to the Charlotte Hornets that came down to the wire despite a fantastic Tyrese Haliburton performance, the Pacers were looking for a bounce-back win on Monday against the visiting San Antonio Spurs.

This wasn’t the Spurs team the Pacers were familiar with last year. This team added some reinforcements in the form of a 7-foot-4 French freak of nature, Victor Wembanyama.

Because of the fact that this game included one of the most hyped-up draft prospects since LeBron James, Gainsbridge Fieldhouse was packed to the brim, with around 11,000 strong coming to see the Pacers battle Wembanyama and company.

Going into this game, the Pacers fans already liked Wembanyama, as he picked them to win their group in his In-Season Tournament predictions, and he did seem a bit upset when the Pacers were given the seventh overall pick in the draft lottery.

However, the goal of the game on Monday was quite simple: Stop Victor Wembanyama. The fans knew it, the Spurs knew it, the announcers knew it, and the Pacers themselves knew it.

And stop Wembanyama they did, as the Pacers completed a wire-to-wire dominant victory over the Spurs and held Wembanayama to a forgettable night, even leaving a lasting impact on the highlight reel, which will be shown later.

When it was all said and done, the Pacers had themselves a dominant 111-152 victory in a game they never trailed in to give Rick Carlisle his 900th win as an NBA coach, something Spurs coach Gregg Popovich even had to address in his post-game interview.

Their 152 points also tied the mark for most in franchise history, making some history.

Watching this game, it seemed that everything clicked for Indiana at the right time, and the Pacers could do no wrong. Even the usual second-half slump was absent on Monday, as the Pacers thoroughly dominated their opposition en route to tying the team record for points in a game.

There are plenty of things to talk about, so without further ado, let’s get into them.

Fantastic scoring on other-worldly efficiency

In most instances, 155 points speak for themselves. However, scoring is one thing, but getting those points on the efficiency the Pacers got them on is another.

Against San Antonio, Indiana shot a stunning 57.9% from the field and a knockdown 52.6% from beyond the arc. Indiana’s free throw woes also seemed to go away, as they shot a beautiful 22/23 from the line and only missed one during garbage time.

With these many points on this level of efficiency, it’s pretty safe to assume that Indiana had some heroes on the night, and that assumption would be right. Six Pacers finished the night with double-figure points, the same amount as the first win against Cleveland and one shy of the opening night obliteration of Washington.

Of these six players, five scored over 15 points, with Tyrese Haliburton’s 23 points leading the charge. However, what stood out the most among these totals was the 19 points on 6/11 shooting provided by Obi Toppin.

Recently, I gave Toppin a “C” as his grade for the season so far, with the main reason being that I had not seen a true breakout performance from him yet that would warrant a higher grade. It’s pretty safe to say that that performance has arrived, as Toppin was fantastic on the night.

He made shots, going 6/6 from the line, got two steals, and even finished with a highlight dunk – a beautiful one-handed tomahawk off a steal to get Indiana fans hyped up as the lead extended.

Haliburton was fantastic as usual, hitting three three-pointers on the night, with Buddy Hield adding five more to contribute to his 19 points. Bennedict Mathurin even broke out of his cold spell, as although he only had 10 points, he shot 4/8 from the field, much better than his recent percentages, and made some big plays down the stretch to shatter any hopes of a Spurs comeback.

All in all, this might have been the best offensive performance in Indiana Pacers history, with 155 points on other-worldly 58/52/96 shooting splits being just about the best game you can have when it comes to putting the ball in the basket, something the Pacers are more than familiar with this season.

Defense was on point, including a noteworthy highlight

Offense has not exactly been a point of concern for the Pacers so far this season. With the points already coming in bunches, the problems have mainly lay on the defensive side of the ball, as evidenced by the fact that Indiana let the Celtics score 155 points in regulation about a week ago.

Indiana’s defense has been a major point of concern so far, with the Pacers routinely allowing inferior teams and players to have big games against them, which often leads to losses, as we saw against Charlotte. Other times, the Pacers will just give up on defense at the end of games and let the other team take over, as seen against the Chicago Bulls.

Tonight, however, neither was the case. The Pacers finally put it all together on both sides of the ball, hoping San Antonio to just 42.6% from the field and a meager 31% from beyond the arc.

In addition to this poor team performance, the Pacers also did a great job neutralizing the Spurs’ biggest threat, as Victor Wembanyama was held to a mere 3/12 from the field and only 13 points.

Wembanyama was also the subject of the biggest Pacers highlight of the game, as he was given his “Welcome to the NBA” moment by none other than Isaiah Jackson, who blocked a Wembanyama dunk attempt, leading to a Buddy Hield three on the other end.

Indeed, this play would have the Pacers in headlines yet again, with Jackson’s block making all the big sports media pages, despite some omitting his name for certain reasons.

Overall, while Indiana didn’t exactly rack up the most impressive defensive stats, as they had the exact same amount of steals as Denver (seven) and even one less block (four), it was how and when they got those stats, and the sheer defensive awareness of all the players involved that led to this resounding win.

If Indiana can keep up even a sliver of this level of defense, they will be a team to fear in the coming months and especially in the coming years.

No second-half slump

This was the biggest thing I noticed. As Pacers fans have been learning the hard way for years, no lead is safe when the Indiana Pacers are the ones holding it, especially if that lead was built in the first quarter.

Look no further than the Cleveland In-Season Tournament game, where, although the Pacers did come up with a win, they had to do some extra work for it despite being up by 17 points at the half.

The third quarter of that game was a typical Pacers third-quarter slump, as Indiana finished the quarter only up by one point, with the Cavaliers even taking the lead a few times before the Pacers took the game away in the clutch.

Tonight was expected to be more of the same. While the Pacers did thoroughly dominate the Spurs in the first half, leading by 25 going into the third quarter, all Pacers fans could think of was the inevitable Pacers third-quarter slump.

Even as the Pacers held surge through the third quarter, the nerves were still there that the Pacers of old would creep out and give the Spurs a fighting chance to rip the game away from their hands.

This would end up not being the case, however, as the Pacers outscored the Spurs 33-26 in the third quarter and entered the fourth quarter up by 32 points, ready to put the game away, which they did after extending the lead to 41 before the final buzzer sounded.

The Pacers lead ballooned to so much that rookies Jarace Walker and Ben Sheppard even got some playing time, with Sheppard scoring seven points and Walker hitting two free throws on the night.

Nights like this are rare, not just for the Pacers but for almost every NBA team. Usually, when a team has a strong first half and builds a large lead, they take their foot off the gas a bit in the third quarter and get a bit lazy, ultimately allowing the other team to get back in the game slowly but surely.

This is an issue the Pacers have been struggling with for years, and that has been continuing to haunt them, ultimately making the fans not satisfied with any lead, as it feels like Indiana could revert back to their old ways at any time and give the opposition the slightest bit of hope for a comeback.

Surprisingly, this did not even come close to happening against San Antonio, as the Pacers got a wire-to-wire victory and ended the night on a high note.

Everything clicked at once

Speaking of rarities, it’s very rare that I have nothing negative to say about a game. Even in the games Indiana has won, I have usually criticized a thing or two about certain aspects, whether that be the rotations, the energy, taking their foot off the gas, or even some off-court issues. Tonight was the rare example of the contrary, as Indiana played almost perfect basketball from start to finish.

A night like this is rare for any basketball team, let alone a team as inconsistent as the Indiana Pacers, who will have 150 points scored on them one night and the next night score 150 points on another team, giving them the title of the most confusing team in the NBA in my book.

While we can talk about shortcomings all day, it is nice to finally have a game where the positives heavily outweigh the negatives for one and for there to be no negatives at all for another.

From the opening tip (which Myles Turner won over the 7-foot-4 Wembanyama) to the time the final buzzer sounded, the Indiana Pacers played a perfect game of basketball that was well worthy of the title of Rick Carlisle’s 900th win as an NBA coach.