Victor Wembanyama’s “priceless” week in Paris ended in defeat as Tyrese Haliburton’s hot shooting fired the Indiana Pacers to a 136-98 NBA victory over the San Antonio Spurs.
In the Bercy Arena where he won the Olympic gold medal with the USA last year, Haliburton poured in 16 points in the third quarter on the way to a 28-point haul that included six three-pointers to carry the Pacers to victory.
Wembanyama, whose star-power drew celebrities including singer and fashion icon Pharrell Williams, connected on seven of his 16 shots from the field to score 20 points as teammate Harrison Barnes led the Spurs with 25.
Indiana turned up the intensity after slumping to a 140-110 reverse in the first game against the Spurs in the French capital.
Pascal Siakam contributed 23 points for the Pacers, who improved to 25-20.
“I think it was a really good showing by us tonight,” Haliburton said.
Despite the defeat, Wembanyama’s return to Paris confirmed his status as one of the NBA’s biggest names at just 21 years of age.
The Paris match kicked off a slate that included the NBA champion Boston Celtics’ dominant 122-107 victory over the Dallas Mavericks in their first meeting since the NBA finals.
Jayson Tatum scored 24 points, Derrick White added 23 and Jaylen Brown chipped in 22 for the Celtics, who bounced back from an embarrassing 21-point loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Timberwolves take down Nuggets
All five starters scored in double figures for the Celtics, who trailed by 10 in the first quarter but inexorably imposed their will against a Mavericks team still playing without injured star Luka Doncic.
The Mavs have struggled since Doncic suffered a calf injury on Christmas Day and lost center Dereck Lively II to a broken ankle this week. Naji Marshall, Dwight Powell and Dante Exum were also unavailable.
Kyrie Irving led the Mavericks with 22 points and Quentin Grimes added 20 off the bench, but Klay Thompson, the former Golden State star who joined the Mavs this season, made just two of four shots on the way to six points.
There was another playoff rematch at Minnesota, where Anthony Edwards scored 34 points and handed out nine assists to lead the Timberwolves to a 133-104 victory over the Denver Nuggets — the team Minnesota beat in last season’s Western Conference semi-finals.
Edwards made three three-pointers to take his tally to 976 and surpass former teammate Karl-Anthony Towns for most in Timberwolves history.
He did it in style — with a shot from the center court logo that put Minnesota up 121-93.
Edwards scored 23 of his points in the second half, crediting his late surge to “just being aggressive, being myself, taking my shots, trusting myself and doing everything that I work for in practice.”
Jamal Murray led the Nuggets with 25 points. NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic added 20 and 11 assists but, with just three rebounds, his streak of consecutive triple-doubles ended at five. (Agence France-Presse)