Four observations: Pacers hold on for 107-104 win over Domantas Sabonis, Kings

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Pacers lost most of a 19-point third-quarter lead but held on to beat the Sacramento Kings 107-104 on Friday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

The Pacers snapped a four-game losing streak and improved to 25-29. The Kings fell to 29-22

Here are four observations.

Buddy Hield hit big shots

Buddy Hield doesn't have quite as fond memories of Sacramento as Tyrese Haliburton does, and the Kings weren't nearly as big of fans of him. He was relentlessly booed when the Pacers visited the Kings in November and he still scored 17 points in that game.

On Thursday he was even more effective, scoring 21 points on 8 of 15 shooting including 5 of 9 from the 3-point line while also grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out six assists.

"We talked on the phone this morning because we know we have to turn stuff around and try to win," point guard Tyrese Haliburton said. "I just told him I wanted him to be him. Last time we played Sac, obviously there was some added juice to it. First time playing them he wanted to perform well. There was a lot of outside factors into it. I didn't feel like he was himself that night. So I was glad that he could just be him and just play basketball."

Hield had several key fourth-quarter plays that helped the Pacers seal the victory. The Kings had trailed 79-60 points with 4:56 left in the third period, but they outscored the Pacers 34-16 to cut the deficit to 95-94 and had a chance to take the lead when former Arsenal Tech and Kentucky star Trey Lyles went up for a dunk. Lyles missed and on the other end, Hield knocked down a 3-pointer that gave the Pacers some breathing room.

Then with 3:39 to go and the Kings within three, Hield cut baseline grabbed a pass and rose up for a rare dunk that put the Pacers up five.

"That's No. 1," Myles Turner interjected when Hield was asked where it ranked among his career dunks. "I'm just gonna tell you right now. That's No. 1 for sure."

Said Hield: "It's gotta be No. 1 for sure. Especially against my old team for sure. ... I'm never the one really cutting in the middle or cutting baseline. I'm always the one spacing or trying to space the floor. I saw the opportunity to get to the rim. I saw an opening and that's all she wrote. I got up and I trusted my legs."

The Pacers didn't score in the last 2:55 of the game, so one of the most important offensive plays was an offensive rebound Hield made off his own miss with 29 seconds to go. It didn't turn into more points, but it kept the possession alive long enough to put the Kings in a tough bind to try to tie the game. The Pacers were still up 3 with 20 seconds to go when they got possession. They opted not to call timeout. Forward Harrison Barnes missed a 3-pointer that could have tied it and the Pacers managed to run out the clock the rest of the way.

"Buddy's dunk at the end was a major, major play in the game," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "Really, he did things tonight just in the basic aspect of basketball, coming up with loose balls, rebounding his position, being physical at the point of attack defensively that really showed through."

Domantas Sabonis, Myles Turner had a tough battle.

Domantas Sabonis returned to Indianapolis for the first time since he was traded to the Kings in February for Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy Hield and he was greeted with a sizable ovation.

The newly minted Western Conference All-Star reserve responded with his NBA-leading 40th double-double of the season, posting 15 points and 16 rebounds.

His former frontcourt mate Myles Turner made him work for it, and Turner posted a double-double of 14 points and 13 rebounds on his own and he also blocked four shots and had two steals.

"Something that doesn't get talked about a lot is me and Domas didn't go at each other a lot in practice," Turner said. "We were always on the same team. We played together for what? Four, five years, we know each other's tendencies and what we like to do. That's the fun in it. You have to give your hat off to Domas. He's having a hell of a season. He's brought that franchise up quite a bit the way they're playing over there. It's fun. It's fun going back and forth with him."

The Pacers held on thanks to defense, aggression

The Pacers were better offensively in the fourth quarter on Friday than they were on Thursday, but not by much. After scoring just 15 points against the Lakers and shooting 6 of 22 from the field, they scored 20 in Friday's fourth quarter on 7 of 19 shooting. Four of those field goals were 3-pointers, which was critical, but the Pacers didn't score at all in the game's final 2:55. They scored just 47 second-half points on 19 of 44 shooting.

It was critical, then, that the Pacers played solid defense and got after loose balls, because they needed all of those.

The Pacers held the Kings to 43.0% shooting, including 39.1% in a 48-point first half. They came close on the glass, losing 49-47 after they were outrebounded 58-47 in the matchup in November in Sacramento. They caused 19 turnovers which they turned into 23 points, with 13 of those being steals.

"The idea tonight was to keep the wheels on the wagon," Carlisle said. "Stay on the basics. Solid, team defense, base defense, guard your yard, stick with the basic rules. This is the kind of game, if it was a ballet, they would have kicked our ass. If it's a slugfest, it's more of our kind of game. They're just too good offensively."

Daniel Theis took another step

The night after his first NBA game since June's NBA Finals and his first game of any kind since September when he was playing for the German national team, center Daniel Theis played the second night of a back-to-back and was actually more effective than he was the first night.

Theis played 8:25 in the first half and the Pacers made more of a point to get him involved in the offense early. Shortly after he checked in, Andrew Nembhard found him with a drive and dish for a dunk for his first bucket as a Pacer, and shortly thereafter he drilled a 3 from the top of the key.

Unlike Thursday's game, Theis played the second half and was effective there as well. He played 15 minutes in the game and scored eight points on 3 of 4 shooting and grabbed four rebounds. He was +12 when he was on the floor. Of course, that meant that neither Isaiah Jackson nor Jalen Smith got on the floor, as the Pacers' backup center situation gets more complicated.

"I thought if you were going to give a game ball tonight it would probably go to Theis," Carlisle said. "He showed the kind of player he is and the kind of impact he can have on our team. He was +12 off the bench. He gives us a different kind of big. A guy that has feel, has skill, but still has toughness, can protect the rim and do those kinds of things."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers vs. Kings: Pacers escape with victory to end four-game skid