It’s time for Basketball: Spurs at Pacers

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After an opening night shellacking at the hands of the Charlotte Hornets, the Spurs are on the road tonight to face the rising Pacers. The Pacers are coming off a 107-114 loss to the Wizards, with Tyrese Halliburton leading the way for the Pacers with 26 points.

The Spurs did have some positive indications from their loss to Charlotte, with Keldon Johnson playing a solid game on the offensive end, but overall the team will need to improve on both ends of the court to steal a win on the road tonight. Devin Vassell will need to break out of his slump (one game long, so not technically one), and the entire team will need to improve their defensive activity and positioning. Jeremy Sochan’s offensive game is a work in progress, but since he’s going to be on the court and uncovered, he might as well let it fly and keep working on his shot. Josh Primo is going to be depended on as the primary ball handler for the bench unit, and he’s going to continue getting coached both by Pop and his opponents on the court.

If Pop would ask his guys to work on one thing, maybe it would be for them to finish quarters stronger. I’m going to keep track of points scored in the last two minutes of quarters and see how the Spurs hold up. If they can avoid extended runs by their opponent at the end of quarters, it will be an improvement over the first game, where the Spurs played pretty even until the last few minutes of each quarter, but got blown out late in each frame.

Whatever happens in tonight’s game, the Spurs can’t dwell on it too long, because they play again tomorrow at 5:00 PM against the 76ers in Philadelphia. With less that 24 hours between tip-offs, it’s more of a backtoback than just a regular back-to-back.

Game Prediction:

One of these teams will have a .500 record after tonight’s game. Most likely the home team.

One final word:

Go Spurs GOOOOOO!!

San Antonio Spurs at Indiana Pacers
October 21, 2022 | 6:00 PM CT
Streaming: NBA League Pass (subject to local blackout)
TV: Bally Sports SW

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