DeMarcus Cousins shines as the Sacramento Kings beat the Indiana Pacers by 110-93
DeMarcus Cousins and Sam Dalembert marshalled the Sacramento Kings to overtake the Indiana Pacers by 110-93 on Friday night at Conseco Field House. With this victory the Kings have won four games out of their last seven in the season. The Pacers displayed
a poor shooting effort. With this loss they have failed to tighten the grip on the final eighth spot for the play-offs.
Both the teams tipped off sluggishly. Later when the scores were tied at 10 a piece, the Kings picked up the momentum, as they outscored the Pacers with a 10-4 run, making it 20-14. The Kings end up securing the first quarter by 22-18. Donte Greene
made eight points for the Kings during the period.
With the first quarter lead, the Kings gained confidence and out-rebounded the Pacers. The Kings made the surge early in the second session to out-run the Pacers by 14-7 and advanced to 36-25. At the end of the second period the Kings took 55-37 lead
at halftime. During the first half the Kings held the Pacers to just 25 per cent shooting.
After the break, the Kings were leading by 65-46 in the third segment when Francisco Garcia was called for a foul. Danny Granger, who was under Garcia’s check until that time, straightaway became a feature. He hit a whooshing three pointer to instigate
a 16-6 rush that slashed the Kings’ lead to 71-62 and pushed them to a call for a timeout. The Kings then gathered themselves and retaliated with strong surge to led 85-68 at the end of the third quarter.
The Kings dominated most of the game in the fourth frame. Until, the Pacers made the final surge. Indiana’s Paul George dished one to slash the lead to 99-86 with just 3:47 seconds remaining. However, the Kings replied with the final rush of the game,
as they ran out the Pacers again and took the game away from them by 17 points.
Cousins tallied 18 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and three blocks. Dalembert made 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. While, Garcia scored 16 points and Marcus Thornton chipped in with 15 points for the Kings.
After the game Sacramento coach, Paul Westphal, said, “We’re really playing some good defence. We’ve been knocking on the door all year playing close games, not quite being able to break through, and now we’re starting to break through. We’ve got a
good young team and we’re learning some lessons, and we’re learning to win on the road.”
The Kings’ guard, Tyreke Evans, made a comeback with this game after injury. He ended up with six points and eight assists during his 17 minutes stay.
Subsequent to game Granger said, “We can’t relax. Every night you’re playing against a team that can beat you. This should be a lesson for us.” He also added “You can’t lose to a team that you should beat and at home, at this point in the season. It’s
a bad loss for us.”
Granger led a cold shooting. He remained the top contributor for the Pacers with 20 points, five rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block. His team-mate Paul George added 12 points and eight rebounds for Indiana.