Spurs' Chris Paul drops blunt takeaway from France trip

01/28/2025 01:17 AM

Chris Paul and the San Antonio Spurs ended their trip to France with a split in the 2025 Paris Games. A close, thrilling mini-series it was not. After beating the Indiana Pacers by thirty points, the Silver and Black lost to Indy by 38. The large differentials continue what’s become the norm for Victor Wembanyama and company over the last three weeks.

“Until we consistently put it all together, it’s going to be tough on us,” Paul said.

Two days after San Antonio routed Indiana 140-110, Indy jumped out to a nine-point lead after the first quarter and essentially never looked back.

“Kind of a lopsided game. The first game, too. We knew that that was a good team we were playing against,” Paul continued.

“They got up on us, we came back in the game, they did it again.”

It’s the latest in a stretch that has seen nothing but lopsided outcomes for San Antonio.

The Spurs and blowouts

From December 23 to January 6, all but two of the Spurs’ eight games went down to the final minute or overtime. All but one of those eight games were decided by single digits, and the Spurs won the only game that wasn’t close in that stretch. Since a January 8 loss at the Milwaukee Bucks, the tide has completely turned. Saturday’s 136-98 route served as the latest in this stretch.

“At the end of the day, it’s a team game. There are going to be games like this, and that’s why you have different units and whatnot. The last game, our first unit played pretty well, but the bench is the one who carried us,” Paul continued. “Games differ from game to game, and I think every team in this league is always trying to put 48 minutes together. I think [against the Pacers on Saturday] we might’ve played 36 good minutes, maybe 40 good minutes.”

It’s a problem that’s plagued the Spurs during a season in which they’ve hovered around the .500 mark most of the way. They ended their week in France the way they started it: three games under .500.

Through their last seven games, every outcome has come by double digits. San Antonio won just two of those contents. They’ve lived either on the outer end of the Western Conference Play-in seeding or on the outside just looking in. In that respect, facing the Pacers on this special excursion proved beneficial.

“Those guys are battle-tested. Obviously, they were in the playoffs last year. They came out and were a lot more aggressive than they were a couple of nights ago,” Paul shared.

Indiana is firmly entrenched within the Eastern Conference postseason picture.

“That was a really good test for us because they sort of played it like playoffs, the physicality, overplaying things, they made a couple of adjustments from the other game. We’ll keep getting better,” Paul added.

Back home in San Antonio

Thank you to La Compagnie for the roundtrip flight to our Paris Games pic.twitter.com/y4pgg1k7vJ

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) January 28, 2025

Another trip looms for the Spurs. One much longer and with tons more stops. Before their annual “Rodeo Road Trip” that will keep them on the road through February 20, they have three home games. Paul sees it as an opportunity to start implementing lessons learned from the Pacers in Paris.

“We believe we can figure it out.”

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