Aaron Nesmith scored a team-high 24 points, helping rally the Indiana Pacers to a 111-109 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Monday in Indianapolis.
Obi Toppin added 19 points and seven rebounds off the bench for Indiana (44-31), which won its seventh game in nine tries, and did so after trailing by 16 in the third quarter. Tyrese Haliburton chipped in 18 points and 11 assists. Indiana is fourth in the Eastern Conference, two games ahead of the idle Detroit Pistons.
Sacramento (36-39) was paced by DeMar DeRozan’s 31 points and eight assists and Domantas Sabonis’ 25-point, 16-rebound output. Zach LaVine scored 20 for the Kings, who have lost six of their last seven and are 10th in the Western Conference, one game up on the idle Phoenix Suns for the final play-in tournament spot.
After leading by six at halftime, Sacramento doubled its advantage in the first three minutes of the third quarter, with Keegan Murray’s trey pushing the margin to 70-58.
Thomas Bryant’s layup cut Indiana’s deficit to 72-60, but Sabonis’ ensuing dunk and Murray’s jumper gave the Kings their largest lead at 16. The Pacers then sliced the Kings’ advantage in half on Toppin’s jumper with less than a minute remaining in the third quarter, then cut it even further on Nesmith’s three-point play, sending Indiana into the fourth with an 86-81 deficit.
A 7-0 Kings spurt was stamped with DeRozan’s triple to extend the margin to 93-84 with 9:05 remaining, before Sacramento was held without a field goal for six-plus minutes. The Kings broke the drought on DeRozan’s mid-range jumper, giving Sacramento a 98-95 edge.
Haliburton then scored five straight, including a stepback triple with 1:17 left, returning the lead to Indiana for the first time since the second quarter. After forcing a Sacramento shot clock violation, Siakam hit his first 3-pointer of the game with 36 seconds remaining to give Indiana a 103-98 lead.
Nesmith iced the game with a pair of free throws with less than five seconds left, before LaVine’s buzzer-beating triple.
Sabonis’ 12 first-quarter points helped the Kings take a 28-27 edge into the second. From there, neither team took a lead larger than three points until Tony Bradley’s layup and Toppin’s dunk put Indiana ahead 48-44 at the 5:33 mark.
Nesmith’s floater gave the Pacers a 50-46 edge, before Sacramento finished the first half on a 14-4 run, including Sabonis’ layup and DeRozan’s pullup jumper to give the Kings a 60-54 halftime lead.
