Pacers Struggle to Keep Up in Paris, Fall to Spurs 140-110

It wasn’t the trip to Paris the Indiana Pacers had hoped for, as they ran into a buzzsaw named Victor Wembanyama. Playing in front of his home crowd, Wembanyama put on a towering performance, scoring 30 points, pulling down 11 rebounds, dishing out 6 assists, and swatting away 5 blocks. The Spurs dominated the glass with a 57-31 rebounding edge and shot a scorching 60% from the field to topple Indiana 140-110.

The Pacers had no answers for the rookie phenom, especially during a jaw-dropping stretch in the third quarter where Wembanyama poured in four points, grabbed three rebounds, blocked three shots, and assisted twice—all in the final 2:25 of the quarter.

Bennedict Mathurin led the Pacers’ offense with 24 points, while Tyrese Haliburton, Obi Toppin, and Pascal Siakam added 13, 13, and 18 points, respectively. Indiana, which prides itself on defense, struggled mightily against San Antonio’s sharp-shooting night and failed to maintain the momentum from its recent eight-game winning streak.

The two teams will lace up again in Paris on Saturday, where the Pacers will look to regroup and show that their hoop dreams aren’t over just yet.