 off (and) did a really good job, but little things got us, execution-wise.'' San Antonio trailed 84-69 with 4 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter before rallying. The Spurs went ahead 102-98 with 6:44 remaining in the game, fueled by a pair of 3-pointers each from Mills and Lonnie Walker IV and an emphatic slam by Walker.Walker finished with 10 points.The Pacers regained control by pounding the paint against the undersized Spurs, who were without injured big men LaMarcus Aldridge and Jakob Poeltl.Domantas Sabonis had nine of his 14 points in the final quarter.Indiana was without Victor Oladipo, who suffered swelling in his right knee following the team's morning shootaround. McMillan said it's too early to tell how long Oladipo will be out.''He's a huge piece to what we do,'' Brogdon said of Oladipo. ''But this is a locker room full of confident guys. When one person goes out, the beauty of this team is we adapt, and we have guys that can step up and fill in and continue to play good ball.'' It took some adjustments early, though.The Spurs made their first four shots, including back-to-back 3-pointers by Lyles and Bryn Forbes, in racing to a 10-0 lead.''They are a couple of players down right now, but you can't expect to come to San Antonio and get an easy win,'' Indiana center Myles Turner said. ''Every time I've played here since I've been in the league it's been a tough time.'' The Pacers responded with their own hot streak on 3s. Indiana was 9 for 14 on 3-pointers in the second quarter.Brogdon's driving, reverse layup gave the Pacers their first lead at 48-46 with 6:21 remaining in the first half. Indiana extended its lead to 61-51 on one of Doug McDermott's four 3-pointers.McDermott had 14 points, going 4 of 5 on 3s.TIP-INSPacers: Oladipo missed more than a full calendar year after rupturing a quad tendon in his right knee on Jan. 24, 2019. McMillan did not address whether the team was being cautious with Oladipo because of the previous injury. ... Indiana has won three straight at San Antonio.Spurs: Aldridge is expected to return to the lineup Friday at Brooklyn after skipping Tuesday's game at Charlotte, Popovich said. ... Poeltl sprained his right MCL during the first quarter of San Antonio's 114-113 victory over Orlando on Saturday. ... Drew Eubanks became the first player on a two-way contract to start for the Spurs. Eubanks finished with three points and two rebounds in 13 minutes. ... Rudy Gay was issued a technical foul with 3:26 remaining in the third quarter after tossing the ball toward Marc Davis after the official had called a foul on the Spurs forward.SKY WALKERWalker electrified the crowd with his dunk that tied the game at 96 with 7:51 remaining.Walker has earned a regular role with the Spurs by being aggressive on both ends after spending most of the first two months of the season on the bench.''You've got to have that mentality of just being a killer,'' Walker said of his dunk. ''Trying to dominate and do what you can. If I have a full head of steam, and no one's really on me, nine times out of 10 I can jump with the best of them. So, good luck trying to block me.'' UP NEXTPacers: At Milwaukee on Wednesday night.Spurs: At Charlotte on Tuesday night.---More NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Mar 01, 2020Stringing together wins over the next six weeks will determine whether the San Antonio Spurs will continue their record postseason run. If the Spurs make the playoffs, it's likely they will look back at Saturday's win over Orlando as a big piece of the push.Now San Antonio has to build on that momentum, beginning on Monday when it hosts Indiana in the Alamo City.Friday's victory snapped a two-game slide for the Spurs (25-33), who remain three games behind Memphis for the eighth seed in the Western Conference. Seven players scored in double figures for San Antonio, led by Trey Lyles' 20 points.It took all that and more to garner the 114-113 win for the Spurs, who had an early 16-point lead before giving it all back. Bryn Forbes' late-3-pointer was the game's deciding shot."It was a great team win," said Spurs forward Rudy Gay, who scored 19 points off the bench and went 4 of 6 from the 3-point line. "We all scrambled. We all filled roles and did as much as we could for each other. That was a key about this game. It taught us a lot about ourselves." The Spurs were without forward LaMarcus Aldridge for the second consecutive game because of a right shoulder strain. They also lost center Jakob Poeltl to a first-quarter right knee contusion that limited him to the game's first four minutes."They don't tell you how you won, they just show how many you got," San Antonio guard Derrick White said. "So, whether you win by one, win by 50, it doesn't matter as long as you win." The Pacers head to San Antonio after a 113-104 win in Cleveland on Saturday. Indiana (36-24) has won five of its past six contests following a season-high six-game losing streak.T. J. Warren scored 30 points to lead the Pacers while Malcolm Brogdon collected 22 points and 8 assists in a game that was knotted 16 times and featured 12 lead changes."Cleveland had 38 points at half in the paint - everything was in the paint," Pacers coach Nate McMillan said. "Second half we did a better job of defending the paint. We switched some matchups and it worked out for us." Victor Oladipo scored a season-high 19 points in his 10th game since returning from a year-long absence from a ruptured tendon in his right knee, and Domantas Sabonis recorded his 46th double-double of the season with 18 points and 13 rebounds for Indiana in the win.''I felt like we didn't panic at the end,'' Sabonis said. ''We really wanted to come out and get it done the way we know we're capable of.'' The Pacers currently sit in sixth in the Eastern Conference standings, nine games clear of seventh-place Orlando and a game back of fifth-place Philadelphia.Monday's game is the second of a five-game road trip that also takes the Pacers to Milwaukee, Chicago and Dallas. Indiana returns home to face Boston on March 10.This is the first of two games this year between the two teams, with the follow-up in Indianapolis on April 13. San Antonio owns a 54-39 all-time edge against the Pacers and have won 30 of the 47 games played in the Alamo City.--Field Level Media
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