During the Friday night NBA slate, Buddy Hield scored 21 points as the Indiana Pacers beat the Sacramento Kings 107-104. He shot 5 of 9 from 3-point range and grabbed 10 rebounds.
“Especially against your old team, it’s always good to get the win,” Hield said.
Aaron Nesmith contributed 17 points for the Pacers, going 4 for 7 on 3-pointers. With 14 points and 13 rebounds, Myles Turner had a good night and acknowledged having the extra motivation to get the victory for Hield and Haliburton.
“(Hield) made some big shots down the stretch,” Turner said.
De’Aaron Fox, Sacramento’s leading scorer, sat out due to personal reasons. The Kings were led by Harrison Barnes, who scored 23 points. There were 16 points scored by Kevin Huerter, 15 by Sabonis, and 15 by Terence Davis.
NBA SCORES & NEWS: Buddy Hield, Indiana Pacers & Sacramento Kings Updates
With two minutes left, Davis hit a 3-pointer to cut the Pacers’ lead to 107-104, but neither team scored after that. Nesmith grabbed the rebound after Barnes missed a 3 with 9.1 seconds left.
“We didn’t react trying to foul,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “It’s on us as a staff to remind them to foul, if we’re down three and the clock is below 24 seconds and we’re down three points or two or one. That’s just a teaching point.”
Brown explained further: “You’ve got to be able to box out. You can’t give up second shots. We didn’t do any of that down the stretch. Throughout the course of the game, our turnovers were terrible. It really hurt in a one-possession game to have 20 of them on the road. Our inability to communicate on defense against a team — and give up too many good looks — that can shoot like the Pacers, was not good.”
As the Pacers led by 12 points at halftime, the Kings went on a 20-8 run at the end of the third to narrow the deficit to 87-80. During the first half, Indiana shot 10 of 21 from three-point range to lead 60-48 at the half. The Kings, on the other hand, were 6 for 23 from long range in the first half. A 14-point run by the Pacers allowed them to build a 51-39 lead. During the stretch, Nesmith hit three 3-pointers.
NBA SCORES & NEWS: Buddy Hield, Indiana Pacers & Sacramento Kings Updates
Haliburton acknowledged after the game that he was tired and had trouble making shots after missing 10 games. On 4-of-12 shooting, he scored 10 points and dished out nine assists.
“We knew the way they play, you’re going to have to make it a gritty game, an ugly game,” Haliburton said. “You need to be able to play defense and get stops, and we were able to do that tonight.”
