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Spurs Down Struggling Pacers

Derrick White and Jakob Poeltl took advantage of their early mismatches by delivering a quick knockout punch and leading the San Antonio Spurs to a 109-94 victory over short-handed Indiana on Monday night.

 

White scored 16 of his 25 points in the first quarter, while Poeltl finished with 16 points and seven rebounds in the Spurs' second straight win.

 

Malcolm Brogdon and Caris LeVert each scored 18 to lead Indiana, which has lost three in a row.

But this time, the Pacers were without two-time All-Star Domantas Sabonis (sore lower back) and defensive player of the year candidate Myles Turner (right foot) as well as T.J. Warren, who will miss the rest of the season with a stress fracture in his left foot. Turner's replacement, Goga Bitadze, also didn't finish the game because of a sprained left ankle.

 

White's 3-pointer capped a 15-4 run to close the first quarter, which gave the Spurs a 36-21 lead they never surrendered. LeVert scored six straight late in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 47-38. But San Antonio still led 55-44 at halftime and sealed the victory by extending the lead to 21 in the third quarter.

 

The game was marred by a fourth-quarter shoving match that resulted in technical fouls on the two instigators - Indiana's JaKarr Sampson and Patty Mills - as well as Spurs forward Rudy Gay. Sampson was ejected following the brief fracas.

 

DeMar DeRozan finished with 18 points and needs five more to pass Earl Monroe (17,454 points) for No. 87 on the NBA's career scoring list.

 

The Pacers announced Monday that Turner is out indefinitely because of a partial tear in the plantar plate of his right foot. He has missed 10 games this season and yet started Monday ranked second in the league with 159 blocks, trailing only Rudy Gobert of Utah. Turner's streak of 64 consecutive games with a block ended during Indiana's recent road trip. Turner has a league-leading 12 games with five or more blocks this season.

 

The Pacers host Oklahoma City on Wednesday in the second game of a three-game homestand.

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