NBA News Wire
Kings 102, Pacers 101
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Forward Carl Landry grabbed teammate Rudy Gay’s air ball, and put it back in with 0.8 seconds left in overtime Friday, and the Sacramento Kings escaped with a 102-101 victory over the Indiana Pacers at Sleep Train Arena.
Landry finished with 14 points, and his put back bailed out Sacramento after it squandered a 17-point second half lead, as well as a 94-86 advantage with 3:08 left in regulation. His heroics came after Indiana guard C.J. Watson scored on a driving layup amid a crowd with 1:02 left in overtime to put the Pacers ahead 102-101, their first lead since early in the first quarter.
Gay scored a game-high 27 points, and Sacramento (10-9) ended a four-game losing streak. They have not been below .500 this season. The Kings forward made 10 of 20 shots but missed nine of his final 10, including one from inside that set up Landry’s heroics.
Guard Darren Collison added 20 points, six assists and four steals for Sacramento, which also won for the first time in 17 games without center DeMarcus Cousins. Cousins missed his fourth straight game and will miss at least one more because of a virus that has sidelined him since Nov. 26. Cousins watched the game in street clothes.
Forward David West scored 16 points to lead the Pacers, who wound up winless on a four-game road trip. Guard Rodney Stuckey added 14 points, but his desperation 3-pointer from the top of the arc as time expired in overtime failed to draw iron.
The Kings bolted to a 26-11 first-quarter lead, nearly squandered all of it, then built it to 75-58 midway through the third quarter. With 3:08 left in the fourth quarter, they still were ahead 94-86.
But Indiana used a 10-2 run down the stretch to force the extra session, with West’s strong post-up move from inside the key with 28 seconds left forcing the tie. After Gay missed for the Kings on a shot from the wing in which he appeared to be fouled, West missed from 16 feet at the buzzer to create the extra period.
Guard Ben McLemore scored 12 points, his eighth straight double-digit scoring performance for Sacramento. Guard Damjan Rudez and forward Luis Scola scored 11 points for Indiana, and guard Solomon Hill added 10.
NOTES: Sacramento played the first of four games in five nights, all of them against teams with losing records. The Kings host the Orlando Magic on Saturday and the Utah Jazz on Monday before facing the Lakers in Los Angeles on Tuesday. … Pacers F David West averaged 20.1 points on 22-for-34 shooting in his 15 previous games in Sacramento, his highest mark in any building. … Indiana trotted out its sixth different starting lineup. Seven Pacers have combined to miss 87 games because of injury, and starters F Paul George (catastrophic leg injury) and F George Hill (left knee contusion) haven’t played a game this season. … The Kings last won a game without C DeMarcus Cousins on March 13, 2013. They lost all 11 games without him a season ago and were 0-3 in their first three games without him this season. … Pacers F Roy Hibbard received a warning from the NBA for violating the league’s flopping rule in Thursday’s loss at Portland.
