The Indiana Pacers (3-3) won 97:94 against San Antonio Spurs (4-2) in a surprisingly close match. The decision was made in the final seconds with a crazy litter by Victor Oladipo.
The Pacers started the game at high speed, which really took them by surprise. Coach Pop needed an early break and spun through quickly, which did indeed have an effect: the defensive coordination difficulties became less, the throws on the other hand were freer and thus more powerful. The Texans were able to tighten up the game, but were trailing 48:53 for the break.
After the change of sides, things went wild at times. The Spurs tried to keep up with Indiana’s pace and took fast threesomes – but with a mediocre rate. So it remained that the hosts stayed in front and took a tight lead (68:64) with them into the final section.
In this one, the Spurs turned the matter around and in the meantime led with 6 points. But Indiana didn’t let herself get lost and took advantage of San Antonio’s simple mistakes to come back. That’s how things were going extremely tight in the crunchtime. The hero of the evening was Victor Oladipo, who just a few seconds before the end of the match hit a wild threesome over LaMarcus Aldridge to 95:94. The Spurs still had two Possessions, but couldn’t generate points from them.
He stayed out of the field perfectly at 22 points (9/9 FG). In the Spurs, LaMarcus Aldridge was top scorer with 26 points, Pau Gasol came in 17 with 7 rebounds and 5 blocks.
Indiana Pacers vs. San Antonio Spurs: Click here for the BOXSCORE!
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Victor Oladipo. Actually, this was supposed to be Singapore with its efficient performance (12 Rebounds he also had!), but the cold-bloodedness of Oladipos and the will to take on responsibility decided the evening.
Patty Mills. He was unable to take on responsibility as a Point Guard – as such he was given 28 minutes. He acted too hectically and had no luck in the final round (10 points, 4/14 FG) – not even in the last attempt at a threesome, which would have brought in the extra time.
This may not be specifically related to this game, but it was particularly rewarding this evening: Gregg Popovich had announced that he would use it more in the way his blazer days were known from LaMarcus Aldridge. Namely: In the left Low-Post, from where LMA roamed and met his infamous Fadeaways. Also worth mentioning: the San Antonio three-guard line-up with Patty Mills, Manu Ginobili and Brandon Paul, who successfully kept pace with the Pacers. At the end of the day, this didn’t help, because the team made too many simple mistakes.