The Sacramento Kings might have one of the worst records in the NBA, but they've been playing well as of late behind the growing beast that is DeMarcus Cousins.
I knew the Pacers were going to have trouble with Cousins tonight, which they did, as the young stud powered his way (with surprising finesse in some instances) to 31 points and 13 rebounds. But as a team, the Pacers were just in another class, and coupled with 31 slump-breaking points from Paul George (on 10-18 shooting), ran away with it in a 116-92 thumping.
Good all-round effort tonight as the Pacers only allowed Cousins to get his and kept everyone else in check. The only other double-digit scorer for the Kings was Rudy Gay, who had 12 points on 14 shots. For the Pacers, David West racked up 16 and 8 on just 11 shots, Roy Hibbert had 10 on 8 shots, and Lance Stephenson had 13, 5 and 5. CJ Watson continued his strong play of late with 10 points on 5-6 shooting, while Danny Granger and Luis Scola contributed with 9 points apiece.
The Pacers keep their best record in the league ahead of the Spurs and improve to 30-7 for the season, including 19-1 at home. They will next face the improving New York Knicks, who had their 5-game winning streak snapped tonight against the Bobcats. The Pacers always seem to bring out the best in the Knicks, so it's going to be an interesting matchup. The last time these two teams met they needed beast mode from Paul George down the stretch to win in OT, so it's good to see PG24 find some much-needed form tonight.
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