Pacers in Paris

Source: Lachlan Cunningham / Getty

[Paris, France]- The Indiana Pacers travelled across the pond after Saturday’s win over the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Pacers headed to Paris, France for two games against the San Antonio Spurs as the NBA continues to expand its reach worldwide.

Indiana comes into the world tour trip winning eight of their last nine games, which was something Head Coach Rick Carlisle shared live from the City of Love.

“We’ve gotten healthier,” Carlisle said on Tuesday morning, “That’s one obvious thing, and we’ve spent a lot of time over the last year becoming a better defensive team. I think over the ten or eleven games we’re number three in league in defense. Our guys bought into the importance of it, they’re certainly going to be challenged at a high level by San Antonio with Victor (Wembenyama) in the middle. We’ve got to keep working on that stuff, and the work goes on. We’ve got better spacing in the schedule, we don’t have any back to backs in January. So, we’re trying to take advantage of that.”

When it comes to the seven-foot-four French native Victor Wembenyama, Carlisle shared what he sees could be troublesome areas for the Pacers.

“He presents many, many problems,” Carlisle said, “You’re talking about a seven-four guy that handles in pick and rolls, and he’s a rolls or pop. He’s a guy that comes down and pins for shots. From a diversity standpoint, I’ve never seen a guy that can do so many things offensively and have such a great effect on the game defensively, which is him. We got to keep him occupied, defensively, if we allow him to camp out below the rim we’re going to have two long nights here. Defensively, we’re going to have to keep him squared up and make it tough on him.”

Thursday will be the first time Indiana will face the Spurs this season. In the 2023-24 campaign, Indiana went 1-1 against San Antonio. In those two meetings, Wembenyama had 43 total points and 22 rebounds.

Thursday’s game will tip off at 2:00 PM Eastern time, Saturday’s will at Noon Eastern. Pregame radio coverage will begin thirty minutes before each tip time on 93.5/107.5 theFan in Indianapolis.

Hear the Full Conversation with Coach Carlisle: