Pacers Let Kings Escape, lose 91-88

[Pooh]

By Johnnie Clay - Pacers Insider.
December 7, 2003 - 11:45 pm

The Indiana Pacers came into tonights' game with the Sacramento Kings wondering if they could indeed compete against the elite teams of the Western Conference. They left ARCO arena this evening defeated, but full of confidence.

After a furious comeback during the third quarter, the Pacers fell apart at the end, losing a heartbreaking 91-88 defeat Sunday night in California.

Unlike their last Sundays' performance against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Pacers came to play this evening, keeping up with the Kings' fast-paced offense, trailing by only four points, 26-22 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter was a harbinger of things to come.

The Kings' buried Indiana with their long range shooting, outscoring them 31-24 that quarter, but an image that Pacer fans haven't seen at all this year, reared its' ugly head...but at least this time, there was some warrant for it.

Ron Artest was ejected late in the second quarter for arguing an offensive foul call. It was Artest's first ejection of the year, however some will say later that it was only a matter of time.

Official Anthony Jordan whistled Artest for a charge with 3:31 left in the first half. Artest became angry and received a technical for questioning the foul. The Pacers called timeout before Bibby shot the first technical shot.

During the timeout, Artest approached Jordan to give him another earful and official Bob Delaney called the second technical that led to Artest being tossed. Artest, the Pacers' second-leading scorer at 18.3 points per game, had 9 points, an assist and no rebounds.

With their second leading scorer now gone, the Pacers limped into the locker room trailing 57-46 at halftime.

But, as they did on Friday night against the Supersonics, the Pacers came out smoking, outscoring the Kings 27-17 to claw back into the contest and draw within one point, 74-73 as the fourth quarter started.

The fourth quarter was full of missed opportunites and sloppy play on both ends. Several times during the quarter, the Pacers had a chance to put the game away, only to have a call go the wrong way against them, or missing from the free-throw line, something that rarely happened to Pacers teams in the past. Tonight however...it bit them, and hard.

Sacramento's Vlade Divac, had a chance to put away the game for the Kings, but was called for an offensive foul with 50.2 seconds left. Had the shot went in, it would have given the Kings a three-point lead. Instead, it gave the Pacers one last chance.

However Jermaine O'Neal missed on the other end, giving the Kings the ball, calling timeout with 17.8 seconds left. Peja Stojakovic of the Kings hit two free throws with 12.4 on the clock. The Pacers' Jamison Brewer couldn't get a desperation 3-point shot off in time to beat the final buzzer.

This was the final game of the Pacers' five game road trip, which began last Sunday night in Los Angeles. They finished the trip 2-3, but they know they could've easily gone 4-1, if the bounces had only went their way.


For the night, the Pacers shot 39% (32-82) from the field and a very un-Pacer like 76% (19-25) from the charity stripe.
Jermaine O'Neal led the Pacers with 20 points, and 13 rebounds.

Kenny Anderson, Al Harrington and Austin Croshere were the other Pacers who were double-figures for the night, scoring 10, 17, and 11 points respectively.

Tonight's game was a reunion for Brad Miller and Scot Pollard, who were traded for each other this summer. Miller, continued his outstanding season, scoring a triple-double, scoring 18 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists.

Pollard, (whose been demoted most of the season, in favor of Jeff Foster) scored only 2 points, while on the floor a measly 11 minutes.

The Pacers now limp home to Conseco Fieldhouse, where they hope to lick their wounds on some of the Eastern Conference teams for a few games. Their next oppoinent is the Washington Wizards on Tuesday night, a team whom the Pacers should feast on after their "lost week" out in the west.

Gametime Tuesday is at 7pm EST

[God31]

Good move by Artest. I didn't mind what he did at all. Our team was getting killed. We had no emotion or heart until he got ejected. His ejection opened some eyes.

As for the Kings, now i know why they never can beat the Lakers. They have guys with 0 balls. People say Reggie Miller is bad at faking fouls? Maybe so. But we have 1 Reggie and Sarcamento has like 6 of them. They all look up to Vlade and fake all game long. Both O'Neal fouls in the 4th were BS. Vlade is such a little baby.

I don't know what Carlisle said about the Artest incident after the game, but he didn't seem mad at all either at Arco. He ran to the court, stopped Artest, batted him on the butt, put his arm around him to talk to him and then Artest left the building.

I can't wait til the Kings come to Conseco!

[Pooh]

I had no trouble with what Artest did, I don't think Carlisle was too ticked off at him either, there wasn't any locker room comments, but I will look and post them here and at my pacers website for you to read.

Like you, I look forward to seeing the Kings and Lakers visit Conseco next year for their butt kicking.