Andrew Nembhard posted 28 points and a season-high 12 assists as the Indiana Pacers overcame a Russell Westbrook triple-double to defeat the Sacramento Kings 116-105 on Monday in Indianapolis.
Bennedict Mathurin scored 25 points and Pascal Siakam had 23 for Indiana, which earned its fourth win in six games. The Pacers had a 19-point lead erased before closing the game on a 19-4 run across the last 5:41, 12 of the points coming from Nembhard.
Westbrook compiled 24 points, 13 rebounds and 14 assists for his record-extending 207th triple-double and fourth of the season, which he completed well inside three quarters.
DeMar DeRozan contributed 20 points and Zach LaVine added 16 for Sacramento, which took its fifth loss in six games.
Sacramento pulled within four points by the end of the third quarter, then went on a 13-3 run early in the fourth and moved in front on a Westbrook pull-up jumper.
After missing nine of its first 10 shots of the quarter, Indiana suddenly burst back to life, Nembhard with eight points — including a pair of threes — in an 11-0, 93-second spree.
The Kings went cold down the stretch, held scoreless for the last 2:59 after a Westbrook fadeaway, as the Pacers scored the last six points.
he score was squared at 17 early before Garrison Mathews checked in off the Pacers’ bench and immediately completed a four-point play with 4:46 on the clock, sparking the home side to a 35-23 lead after one period.
Mathurin, who had 11 points in the opening quarter, added eight more in the second. Siakam put up nine in the second as the Pacers moved ahead 66-51 entering halftime on Nembhard’s coast-to-coast, up-and-under layup.
Indiana’s buffer ballooned to 77-58 with 8:31 left in the third, when Sacramento called timeout and changed the momentum.
The Kings attacked the paint efficiently, shooting 14 of 22 (63.6%) for the quarter, clawing their way back into the contest with an 11-4 run, then closing the period with the last nine points to trim the Pacers’ advantage to 92-88.
–Field Level Media
