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The NBA regular season is in full swing, with the NBA trade deadline and NBA All-Star Break right around the corner. Before we get there, we still have some loaded matchups that we need to see play out. One of those games is the Indiana Pacers vs San Antonio Spurs matchup taking place in Paris.
This is the second matchup between the two teams after the Spurs dominated the first. We’ll dive into each team’s season thus far, recap the previous matchup and make a game pick.
The Pacers were the biggest surprise in the NBA last season after making a run to the Eastern Conference Finals before falling to the eventual-champion Boston Celtics. This season has started a bit slower, with them currently sitting at a 24-20 record. They are still the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference, which is solid, but they would like to move up to guarantee home-court advantage in the opening round.
This team is led by their floor general, Tyrese Haliburton, who has taken a slight step back this year. His field goal percentage has fallen from almost 48% to 44%. His points per game and assists are also down. If the Pacers are going to make another run, Haliburton needs to take his play to another level.
With Haliburton taking a step back, Pascal Siakam leads the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 20.1 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. He was the only guy who showed up in Game 1 of this Paris series when he finished with 18 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds while shooting 70% from the floor. Siakam is a huge part of this team on both ends of the floor.
The Spurs are one of the most fun teams in the NBA, and you can credit a lot of that to Victor Wembanyama. They are 20-22 after being one of the worst teams in the NBA last season. They currently sit just 1.5 games behind the Suns for the final play-in spot in the NBA playoffs.
The key to the Spurs’ improvement has been the health of Wemby. He has played 37 of 42 games and has been a menace on both ends of the court. He is averaging 24.6 points and 10.8 rebounds. Not only that, but he is making a case for winning Defensive Player of the Year, averaging 4.0 blocks per game.
One thing that has aided Wemby’s improvement is the Spurs acquiring a true point guard to run their offense in Chris Paul. Last season, they played Jeremy Sochan at the point, and while he is a good player, he should not be leading the offense. The veteran point guard still has some left in the tank and looks rejuvenated by Victor Wembanyama.
Paul leads the Spurs in assists per game with 8.2 and steals at 1.3 while also shooting 36% from downtown. For the Spurs to sneak into the playoffs, they rely on Chris Paul to stay healthy. If he does, this team is dangerous because nobody will want to match up against Victor Wembanyama.
As mentioned above, this is the second matchup of this Paris series, and the Spurs dominated the first game 140-110. With Wembanyama returning home to France, the Pacers just had no answer for him, even with Myles Turner being a good defender. Wemby went for 30 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists.
His running mate, Devin Vassell, also went crazy in this game, shooting 5-6 from downtown for 25 points. The Spurs did get whatever they wanted in Game 1, taking advantage of a Pacers defense that is improved but still in the bottom 10 in the NBA in defensive rating. The Pacers also rank in the top 10 in the NBA in pace, meaning this is a pace-up matchup for the Spurs, who rank fifth.
With that said, we are going to be targeting someone on the Spurs for our Pacers vs Spurs NBA pick. We believe Victor Wembanyama will affect this game on both ends of the court. We’ll take Victor Wembanyama to have 3+ blocks in this matchup in Paris on ESPN.
Dylan has had a love for sports since he was a kid. Four years ago, he decided to dive into the sports content-creating industry specializing in Fantasy Football, NFL and NBA. He has since had his work published on sites that include Fantasy Alarm, Fansided, and Fantasy Six Pack.