Spurs-Pacers Preview

By CHRIS ALTRUDA
Posted Nov 23 2012 12:02AM

The Indiana Pacers were waiting for the kind of game Paul George delivered in their most recent victory.

Gregg Popovich was doing likewise for Tony Parker.

George tries to follow up his best game as a pro Friday night when the Pacers look to end a 10-game losing streak to Parker and the Spurs.

Without injured All-Star Danny Granger, the Pacers (6-7) have asked George to shoulder the scoring load. The third-year swingman has averaged 15.2 points and reached double figures in all but one game thus far, but finally had a breakout performance Wednesday versus New Orleans - hitting a franchise-record nine 3-pointers and scoring 33 of his career-high 37 points in the second half and overtime of the 115-107 victory.

"We were waiting on a breakout game from him," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. "With a player you're trying to develop, the biggest battle is confidence, and when you have a game like this, it shows what you can do."

That confidence, though, has been missing following George's good games. He scored 20 points on two separate occasions earlier this season but shot a combined 5 for 21 in the contests following those outings.

George, though, feels Wednesday's game could mark a turning point in his game-to-game consistency.

"When I had moments to score, I was speeding myself up; just the anxiety I had to knock that shot down," he told the team's official website. "Nights like this, when I can be comfortable and let the shot come to me is more my style of playing. ... I just have to calm down and play in a comfortable zone."

George had 14 points as Indiana shot 34.2 percent at San Antonio on Nov. 5 as the Spurs rolled to a 101-79 win despite Tony Parker missing 10 of 13 shots and scoring six points.

That was the beginning of a seven-game stretch in which Parker averaged 11.1 points on 37.9 percent shooting, but he turned his struggles around Wednesday. The point guard made 12 of 17 shots and scored a season-high 26 points while adding six assists as the Spurs (9-3) opened their six-game road swing with a 112-100 victory at Boston.

"This was his best game in a while," Popovich said. "He hasn't really scored, he hasn't been aggressive for whatever reason. He's known it and he's tried to work through it and put a finger on it, but tonight he played a complete game."

Despite his struggles against the Pacers earlier this month, Parker has averaged 23.0 points in his last three games at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

While George and Parker will be focal points on the perimeter, Tim Duncan and Roy Hibbert will again be in the spotlight in the low post. Duncan, who had 20 points and 15 rebounds Wednesday for his seventh double-double, has averaged 17.6 and 13.9, respectively, during the Spurs' win streak over the Pacers.

Hibbert, however, is coming off his first career triple-double after totaling 10 points, 11 rebounds and 11 blocks versus the Hornets. The 7-foot-2 center was held to two points and five rebounds in the loss earlier this month, going 1 for 7 from the floor.

Parker leads Spurs past Pacers

Posted Nov 24 2012 12:20AM

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Tony Parker says he's been working on his shot, and it looks as if it's paying off.

Parker had 33 points and 10 assists, and the San Antonio Spurs erased a 17-point deficit on their way to a 104-97 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Friday night.

Tim Duncan had 22 points for San Antonio (10-3), which closed the game with a 17-2 run. Manu Ginobili scored 19.

David West scored 22 for the Pacers (6-8), and Paul George finished with 15. George Hill collected 11 points and Roy Hibbert had 10.

Parker made his first eight shots and scored 16 in the first quarter. He put together a 15-for-23 night from the field and made three of his four foul shots.

Parker said coach Gregg Popovich "wanted me to be more aggressive, take more shots, and so I've been working with Chip (assistant coach Engelland), and the last two games, it's been working well for me."

West scored seven points and Lance Stephenson had four as the Pacers went on a 13-1 run to build a 70-53 lead with 6:35 to play in the third. But Ginobili and the Spurs responded with an impressive rally.

The 35-year-old Ginobili was seemingly everywhere, driving the lane, taking shots from beyond the arc and finding his teammates for open baskets. He scored seven points and Parker added six as the Spurs closed the period with a 20-7 run.

"No panic," Parker said. "Obviously, Indiana was making a run the third quarter. They were making great shots and playing great defense, and we just didn't panic. We just keep playing.

"In the third quarter, we cut it to four, so that was huge for us. And then, in the fourth quarter, we started making stops, and we made the shots that we needed."

Indiana grabbed a 95-90 lead on Hill's jumper from the free-throw line with 5:30 to play. But the Pacers missed their last 11 shots, managing just two free throws by West down the stretch.

"I think we competed our tails off, but give credit to San Antonio," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. "They executed better than we did down the stretch and got the W.

"Our guys are playing good offensive basketball and executing pretty well. That's the game of basketball for you, though. Sometimes, the ball doesn't go in the basket.

Gary Neal fueled San Antonio's final surge with two free throws and a basket. Parker hit a jumper from the free-throw line and Duncan followed with a jumper from the top of the key and a layup after a scramble for a loose ball. Parker sank two free throws for a 103-95 lead with 1:33 to play.

West made two free throws with 55 seconds left, but Parker hit a foul shot with 25 seconds to go.

"He got us going the whole game," Popovich said of Parker. "He had double-digit assists, 33 points. He was phenomenal. He played great D."

George said Parker is tough to stop when he gets going.

"It's hard to be able to get gaps and slow him down, because they've got a lot of shooters spotting up," he said. "It's kind of pick your poison."

"We couldn't put the ball in the basket at the end. It just got real difficult, for some reason. We got great looks. Sometimes, it goes like that."

NOTES: The Pacers sent rookies Miles Plumlee and Orlando Johnson to the Mad Ants in Fort Wayne for two games this weekend. It's the first time the Pacers have assigned players to their NBA D-League affiliate. . The Spurs have won five straight games at Indiana. . The Spurs outscored the Pacers 48-36 in the paint, matching the second-most points in the paint for an Indiana opponent this season. . Led by a season-high eight by D.J. Augustin, the Pacers dished out a season-best 27 assists.

Notebook: Spurs 104, Pacers 97

Conrad Brunner, For NBA.com
Posted Fri Nov 23, 2012 11:25 PM - Updated Fri Nov 23, 2012 11:25 PM

THE FACTS: At least the Indiana Pacers can take some solace in knowing they made the Spurs work for this one, although they still haven't figured out how to beat San Antonio's traveling basketball clinic. The Spurs outscored the Pacers 13-2 in the final 5½ minutes as Indiana missed its final 14 shots to pull out a 104-97 victory Friday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. It was San Antonio's 11th consecutive victory over Indiana, a streak that dates back to 2007. Tony Parker scored 33 points with 10 assists, Tim Duncan had 22 with 17 rebounds and Manu Ginobili added 13 of his 19 points off the bench in the second half as the Spurs (10-3) wiped out a 17-point deficit to win their fifth in a row on the road. David West scored 22 to lead Indiana (6-8), which plays its next four on the road.

QUOTABLE: "Tony and Timmy were amazing. Manu came alive in the second half and they guided us through it. The defense got a little better in the second half, but Indiana helped us out down the stretch. They missed a lot of layups."

-- Spurs coach Greg Popovich

THE STAT: The last time the two teams met, a 101-79 Spurs rout, Parker, Duncan and Ginobili played sparingly and combined for just 23 points as the role players were dominant. This time, the big three combined for 74 points on 32-for-60 shooting (53 percent).

TURNING POINT: Indiana got two big runs from its bench, 13-1 in the third quarter to build a 70-53 lead and 9-0 in the fourth quarter to put Indiana in front 86-75. But, as the starters filtered back in each time, the Spurs seized momentum. Indiana led 95-91 after a George Hill jumper with 5:30 remaining, but the Spurs scored on five straight possessions while the Pacers missed five point-blank looks at the rim -- four from Roy Hibbert. Indiana missed eight shots in the lane down the stretch.

QUOTABLE II: "It's disappointing. It hurts. You don't like to lose a game like this, obviously, but there were a lot of positives. We're playing, offensively, the style we need to play and the bench came in and had a heck of a run. I thought we got a lot of good looks [down the stretch]. I'll take the looks we got."

-- Indiana coach Frank Vogel

HOT: Parker was a torch early, hitting his first eight shots in the first quarter. He wound up 15-for-23. Duncan shot 10-for-19 while West was 7-for-13.

NOT: Hibbert shot 5-for-8, while Hill was 5-for-5. The Spurs were ice cold from the 3-point line, missing their first 12 attempts and finishing 2-for-17, with Danny Green (1-for-6) and Ginobili (1-for-7) both struggling.

GOOD MOVE: With the Spurs trailing by 13 in the third quarter, Popovich called a timeout and inserted Matt Bonner into the lineup with the second unit. Though Bonner, who hadn't played to that point, didn't score, his ability to space the floor created driving lanes for Ginobili and skewed the Pacers' match ups -- disrupting what to that point had been a fluid rhythm.

BAD MOVE: Because the bench was playing exceptionally well, Vogel could've stuck with his second unit longer in the second half, particularly the fourth quarter. The five reserves combined for just 35 minutes in the second half.

ROOKIE WATCH: Nando De Colo was the only rookie to play and he was inconsequential, going scoreless in five minutes.

NOTABLE: Tyler Hansbrough had a season-high 12 rebounds off the bench for the Pacers, while backup point guard D.J. Augustin had his best game since joining the team with eight points and a team-high eight assists in 15 minutes. ... Paul George followed his career-high 37-point outing Wednesday against New Orleans with 15. ... Hill's seven assists matched his season high for the fifth time. ... Hibbert had 11 rebounds, seven on the offensive glass. ... The Spurs played the second of a six-game road trip without two key rotation players: wings Kawhi Leonard (left knee tendinitis) and Stephen Jackson (displaced fracture of his right pinky). Leonard missed his fourth consecutive game tonight and, though the original prognosis had him missing 10 days to two weeks, Popovich said there is "no chance" he would join the team at any point on this trip. Jackson, who missed his second game, is expected to be out four to six weeks.

UP NEXT: For the Pacers, Tuesday @ L.A. Lakers, Friday @ Sacramento, Saturday @ Golden State. For the Spurs, Sunday @ Toronto, Monday @ Washington, Wednesday @ Orlando.

• Spurs: Jackson, Leonard
• Pacers: Granger, Johnson, Plumlee

• Spurs: --
• Pacers: Stephenson, West

• Lead Changes: 4
• Times Tied: 4

• Arena: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
• Officials: #43 Dan Crawford, #78 Scott Bolnick, #30 John Goble
• Attendance: 17082
• Duration: 2:11