Tyrese Haliburton scored a game-high 28 points and took over in the pivotal final five minutes of the third quarter as the Indiana Pacers handled the San Antonio Spurs 136-98 on Saturday afternoon to split the NBA Paris Games series.
San Antonio captured the first game of the set 140-110 on Thursday but had no answer for the Pacers in the finale. Indiana led by 15 points at halftime and by 12 after three. Haliburton scored 16 points in a decisive 19-6 run to end the period.
The Pacers poured it on in the fourth quarter, leading by as many as 38 points while waltzing to the finish line.
Pascal Siakam added 23 points and 11 rebounds for Indiana, which won for the third time in its past four contests. Andrew Nembhard had 15 points, Myles Turner scored 14, Bennedict Mathurin hit for 13, T.J. McConnell 12 and Thomas Bryant 10.
Harrison Barnes led San Antonio with 25 points while Victor Wembanyama, a Paris native, added 20 points and 12 rebounds. Stephon Castle scored 17 points and Chris Paul tallied 11. The Spurs have dropped four of their past five games.
The Pacers dominated the first quarter before settling for a 33-24 advantage after 12 minutes of play.
San Antonio rallied to tie the game at 39 on a pair of free throws by Wembanyama with 7:04 to play in the second quarter. Indiana answered and matched its largest lead at that point on Nembhard’s 3-pointer for a 61-50 advantage at the 1:39 mark. A driving dunk by Turner was followed by a layup from Haliburton at the buzzer to push the Pacers’ lead to 65-50 at the break.
Wembanyama led all scorers with 17 points at halftime while Barnes added 11 for the Spurs. Mathurin paced the Indiana attack with 11 points in the first half, with Siakam, Nembhard and Haliburton hitting for 10 each.
San Antonio rallied to take a 77-76 lead after Wembanyama’s short jumper with five minutes to play in the third quarter. The Spurs were still up by one before Haliburton took over the game, scoring Indiana 16 of Indiana’s ensuing 19 points that helped the Pacers to 98-86 advantage heading to the final period.
–Field Level Media
