Pacers GM Chad Buchanan On Playing In Paris

The Indiana Pacers are in the City of Love for a couple of games against the San Antonio Spurs.

The Pacers are taking their overseas trip with plenty of positive momentum; the team has been playing their best ball of the season over the last 18 games, as their explosive offense is suddenly being matched by a stout, top 5 defense. The results have been clear; after starting the year 10-15, the Pacers have gone 14-4 and now sit 5th in the Eastern Conference standings.

To keep that momentum going, the Pacers will not only have to shrug off the effects of not playing since January 18th but also do so against 2nd-year phenom Victor Wembanyama, who will be playing in front of his fellow countrymen. The Spurs have lost 6 of their last 7, and currently sit at 19-22, but the juice from the presumably pro-Spurs/Wemby crowd, and from his fellow teammates who will want to get a win for him in his home country, could make for a tough matchup for Indiana.

During the Wednesday edition of The Ride With JMV, Pacers general manager Chad Buchanan joined the show live from Paris, and spoke about the environment he expects to see against the Spurs.

“I would expect a very pro-Spurs crowd obviously. I don’t think they’re going to be booing the Pacers necessarily, I think they’re really going to be cheering for Victor to have a good game and have a good showing over here, and I’m sure that’s what Victor hopes for as well. We’re going to do our best to try and make it not as enjoyable for the fans, but I do think in just being around the city, and being around the people that are here and involved with the games, they’re very welcoming to the Pacers and curious about getting to know our players, but I think when we step into that arena tomorrow night it’s going to be a very pro-Spurs crowd, and I think our guys are expecting that.”

Chad also gave some insight into what he thinks has led to the Pacers turnaround on defense.

“Adding a depth piece in Thomas Bryant has given our bench a good backup 5-man who’s experienced, he knows what he’s doing, he’s in the right position, he rebounds, he helps his teammates, he communicates, so that’s a good piece to begin with. Obviously, Andrew [Nembhard] coming back from his injury, one of our better perimeter defenders, and one of our smarter, more physical players, and that’s really helped a lot of guys…We really feel like where we’re at defensively as a group is the major, major reason why our team is having success over these last 15-20 games.”

Listen to JMV’s full conversation with Chad down below, and tune into The Ride With JMV weekdays from 3-6pm on 93.5/107.5 The Fan!