Postgame in Paris: Pacers' pressure, Haliburton's heater leads to 38-point win
The Pacers split the pair of games with the Spurs. Talking through how they did it — with pressure, defense, a hot third quarter from Tyrese Haliburton, and minimizing Wemby.
PARIS — Two days later and it was a much different result for the Pacers than in game 1 against the San Antonio Spurs. From a 30-point loss to a massive 38-point win Saturday evening here in Paris, France.
Tyrese Haliburton erupted for 16 straight points in the third quarter to put them up by 12, then wasn’t even need in the fourth quarter as they ballooned their lead in a 136-98 win.
The Pacers improved to 25-20 with the win, a split of the pair of NBA Global Games
“We played a lot better and we needed to do a lot of things better,” head coach Rick Carlisle said afterward.
“We obviously needed to do a better job on Victor (Wembanyama). I thought Myles Turner played a great game today and just did a lot of things that you don't see 6-11 centers in this league doing: Picking up full court, sprinting from end to end, busting over screens, busting over pick-and-roll screens when he's guarding a guy who's 7-4 handling (the ball). Just a very unique situation so Myles played a tremendous game.”
I am the only Indy reporter in Paris for the trip. Here's my postgame recap from Accor Arena, where a sold-out crowd of 15,979 saw the Pacers answer their second-biggest loss of the season with their biggest win.
Much more coverage to come…
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Fun to watch this win. I don’t get to watch many games so it was fun to see full court defensive pressure executed effectively. Neither game was competitive. Playing a team back to back is interesting to watch as the Pacers adjust well.
Tough stretch of games coming up so I hope everyone stays healthy and gets some rest.