San Antonio, TX – Gary Neal scored 17 points and the San Antonio Spurs remained undefeated with a 101-79 victory over the Indiana Pacers.
Tim Duncan and DeJuan Blair each had 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Spurs, who are off to a 4-0 start for the first time in franchise history. Stephen Jackson and Danny Green added 12 and 10 points, respectively.
"DeJuan's been very professional. I haven't played him very much at all and he stayed in shape," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "He's ready to go, he's part of the team and he's not going to let anything get him down if I don't play him. He doesn't turn sour and that showed tonight how ready he is and he did a great job on both ends."
George Hill and Paul George ended with 15 and 14 points, respectively, for the Pacers, who fell to 2-2 on the young season. David West donated 10 points and 11 boards.
Holding a 22-18 lead, the Spurs bridged the first and second quarters with a 15-0 run. Jackson tallied six points during the surge to help give San Antonio a 37-18 lead with 7:16 left until half.
Indiana prevented the Spurs from pulling away by scoring the final 11 points of the second quarter. West bookended the spurt with a pair of jumpers to make it a 47-38 game at the break.
Green started the third stanza with a 3-pointer and San Antonio held a double- digit lead for the remainder of the period. It was a 73-60 contest heading to the fourth.
The Spurs outscored Indiana by a 28-19 margin in the final quarter.
"Defensively, they (Spurs) are very solid," West said. "You can't turn the ball over against them. They will make you pay. They had 22 fast break points in the first half. They are just too good of a team for us to compete with right now."
Game Notes
The Spurs have won the last 10 matchups against the Pacers. Indiana has lost its last 11 trips to the Alamo City ... San Antonio shot 47.1 percent from the field ... The Pacers went 19-of-22 from the foul line.
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