After two straight blowout losses at home, the Kings got back on track with a total team effort to beat the Indiana Pacers 127-122.\u00a0 Harrison Barnes led the way for the Kings with a season-high 30 points, but it was a total team effort with every player seemingly having their own moment.<\/p>\n
Sacramento’s defense still wasn’t great, allowing Indiana to shoot 48% from the field, but it was a far cry from the matador impersonation the team was doing in the last two games.\u00a0 Richaun Holmes in particular was a force in the paint, reaching a career-high 6 blocked shots, with 3 of them coming in the crucial fourth quarter.\u00a0 Holmes also chipped in 16 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal and led the Kings in +\/- at 12.\u00a0 I don’t usually think single-game +\/- tells the whole story, but in Holmes case tonight it did.\u00a0 It’s important to note that he was playing the entire fourth quarter with 5 fouls, and still managed to come up with those huge blocks at the end.<\/p>\n
It was a back and forth game for the most part, with the Pacers jumping out to an early lead and both teams trading leads throughout the first half.\u00a0 In a surprising turn, it was the 3rd quarter which saw the Kings take the reins of the game, jumping out to a 12 point lead, although Indiana would come back and get it within 4 points heading into the 4th quarter.<\/p>\n
Sacramento managed to keep the Pacers at bay for most of the period, but the game had an unmistakable air about it that Indiana was going to come back at some point, and they eventually did take the lead at 115-113 on a Victor Oladipo layup with 3:34 left.\u00a0 The Kings would take the lead back after a Richaun Holmes block led to a Buddy Hield three on the other end, and Oladipo came right back to score at the rim and give Indiana a 117-116 lead.\u00a0 The Kings gave the ball to Harrison Barnes, who had made a living attacking the paint all night, and Barnes was able to get to the line and give the Kings the lead back.<\/p>\n
What followed was perhaps the weirdest possession of the game.\u00a0 Oladipo again tried to attack the rim, but Buddy was able to strip the ball away from him and it looked very clear on both replay and in game action that the ball hit Oladipo’s foot and went out of bounds off the Pacers, and the initial call by officials was Kings ball.\u00a0 After a lengthy review however, the referees overturned the call and awarded possession to Indiana.\u00a0 The Pacers got the ball quickly inside to Domantas Sabonis, who had been killing the Kings all night with 28 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Pacers, but Holmes was there to block the shot.<\/p>\n
\nWhat a block by Holmes \ud83d\ude31 pic.twitter.com\/duIIOfPcu3<\/a><\/p>\n
— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) January 12, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n