Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images The Spurs couldn’t repeat their impressive performance from Thursday, getting blown out by the Pacers in the second half. After using a strong third quarter and dazzling display of Beautiful Basketball in their opening performance in Paris against the Indiana Pacers, the San Antonio Spurs were hoping to put on an encore for their second act. Unfortunately, they ran into a hyped up, motivated Pacers squad who took Thursday’s embarrassment personally and were all too willing to return the favor. The Pacers were aggressive on defense from the outset, using the full court press to bother the Spurs the entire game, while on offense it was a layup line as they drew Victor Wembanyama to the perimeter. Harrison Barnes was the main source of offense for the Spurs early with 11 of their first 18 points, but careless passing and the Pacers winning all the 50-50 balls kept the Spurs from being able to make a run, ending the first quarter down 33-24. Wemby finally gave the French crowd something to cheer about in the second quarter with a 12-point flurry, beginning with a high flying not-quite-a-dunk throwdown and banking in a three to get the Spurs back within six, forcing a Rick Carlisle timeout. The Spurs’ effort remained high for a while, and they finally tied things up at 39-apiece, but things fell apart again from there. The threes kept falling for the Pacers, and the Spurs couldn’t keep them off the offensive glass, ceding 14 points off 11 offensive rebounds as well as 14 points off 12 turnovers in the half, and the Indiana finished on a 15-3 run to take a 65-50 lead into the break. The Spurs started the third quarter more prepared for the Pacers’ full court press, getting the ball down the court quickly for a couple of and-1’s from Stephon Castle and Harrison Barnes. Other than a Chris Paul free throw off a technical on Benedict Mathurin, those two scored the Spurs’ first 18 points of the quarter, and a Wemby drive finally gave them their first lead at 77-76. Unfortunately, once he went to the bench moments later, the Pacers responded with a 19-6 run, mainly on the back of Tyrese Haliburton. Almost all the hard work the Spurs did to get back in the game was undone by the end of the third quarter as the Pacers took a 98-86 lead into the fourth, only saved by a Barnes three with 0.4 seconds left. The Spurs continued to have trouble holding onto the ball in the fourth, preventing them from going on any kind of last-ditch run while handing the Pacers answers to any of their baskets. Indiana never relented and quickly put things away, outscoring the Spurs 38-12 in the fourth quarter for a blowout 136-98 loss. While the Spurs got one win out of the trip, their January struggles continue, and the schedule doesn’t get any easier next week. Game Notes The new rotation without Charles Bassey or Zach Collins has had mixed results. In the two games in Paris, Wemby subbed out a little earlier in the first quarter when Jeremy Sochan subbed in, then Sandro Mamukelashvili came back in with Wemby in place of Harrison Barnes. It was successful on Thursday, as Sochan was in full beast mode and Mamu showed off his usual chemistry with Wemby, but not so much today. It really can’t be blamed on anyone since outside of that one run in the third quarter, nothing was going right for the Spurs. It may change up again if Sochan returns to the starting lineup, but I wouldn’t mind seeing more Mamu. Wemby seemed visibly frustrated with the physicality of this game, and at times it was justified. The Pacers were very handsy and stripped a lot of the Spurs’ drives, but it was hard to see how many actually included contact. However, there was one drive in the third quarter where he very clearly got whacked on the elbow with no call, and he showed some rare emotion towards the refs. Although the Spurs ended up with a 11 more free throw attempts than the Pacers, it was still a physical, frustrating game. This was very much a tale of two halves for Castle. He had a very rough first half, constantly getting gobbled up as he drove to the basket and blown by on defense. He and Barnes had that big run to open the third quarter to get the Spurs back in the game, but outside of that, you could argue that he tried to force the issue too much, finishing with a team-high 20 shot attempts (with just 7 makes) compared to 16 for Wemby and 8 for Devin Vassell. Still, Castle also contributed 6 rebounds and 6 assists and actually wasn’t a big part of the Spurs turnover problem, plus he showed why he may actually have a shot at the dunk contest. STEPH CASTLE pic.twitter.com/WX49v53Ev1— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) January 25, 2025 Play of the Game As the Spurs were making their comeback attempt, this behind the back pass to Vassell from Chris Paul gave the Spurs hope. sprinkled a little somethin' on this pass pic.twitter.com/TDKJYKUnqo— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) January 25, 2025 Up next: Wednesday vs. Los Angeles Clippers The Spurs return home for three games next week ahead of the Rodeo Road trip, but it won’t be an easy slate, beginning with the Clippers, who have Kawhi Leonard back and looking solid. Will the fans heed Pop’s word and hold back on the boo-birds? We’ll find out!