SAN ANTONIO — Gary Neal scored 17 points and the San Antonio Spurs beat the Indiana Pacers 101-79 on Monday night, setting the franchise record for best start to a season with its fourth straight win.
Tim Duncan added 14 points and 11 rebounds for San Antonio (4-0). DeJuan Blair added 14 points, Stephen Jackson 12 and Danny Green 10 for the Spurs.
Former Spurs guard George Hill led Indiana with 15 points. Paul George added 14 points and David West had 10.
San Antonio’s reserves outscored Indiana’s bench players 57-35.
The Spurs never trailed by less than 10 points in the second half. The Pacers shot just 35 percent from the field in the game.
Both teams aggressively defended the point early, resulting in a combined 4-for-16 shooting from the field in the first 5 minutes.
The Spurs then scored nine straight points to take a 14-9 lead after sharing the ball more. Boris Diaw capped the run with a layup off a bounce pass from Tony Parker with 5 minutes left in the first quarter.
Parker also fed a cutting Manu Ginobili, who made a tip pass to Blair for a layup with one second left in the first quarter for a 26-18 lead.
Parker had three of the team’s seven assists in the first quarter.
Parker sat for nine minutes in the second quarter after playing the entire first.
Indiana did not surpass 20 points until David West dunked off an offensive rebound with 7 minutes left in the first half.
West kept the Pacers in contention, scoring 10 points in the second quarter while going 4 for 5 from the field. His 23-foot jumper cut San Antonio’s lead to 47-38 at the half.
The Spurs missed their final five shots of the first half.
