Indiana @ Sacramento preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 31, 2017 ) Sacramento 83, Indiana 101

The Indiana Pacers took advantage of the injury-depleted Golden State Warriors to win the opener of their West Coast trip 92-81 on Tuesday, keeping them neck-and-neck in the race for homecourt advantage on the Eastern Conference. The Pacers will try to earn their fourth straight victory when they continue the trip by visiting the lowly Sacramento Kings on Thursday.

Tuesday's win marked the beginning of an eight-game stretch to close the regular season in which Indiana will play six on the road, with visits to playoff hopefuls Denver and the Los Angeles Clippers rounding out the current trip. The Warriors were playing without all four of their All-Stars but still held a nine-point lead over the Pacers at the half on Tuesday before Indiana clamped down on the defensive end. "We just stayed with it," Pacers head coach Nate McMillan told reporters. "They were doing some good things the first half, our defense picked up and we tried to keep them in front. We started to rebound the basketball and get out and execute on the offensive end of the floor. It's a 48-minute game and we just stayed with it and found a way to get this game." The Kings dropped three of the first four on their six-game homestand and are coming off a 103-97 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday.

TV: 10 p.m. ET, FS Indiana, NBCS California (Sacramento)

ABOUT THE PACERS (44-31): Indiana's offensive struggles at Golden State did not extend to All-Star guard Victor Oladipo, who scored 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting and added six rebounds and six assists. Oladipo scored 20 or more points in four of the last five games and recorded a pair of steals on Tuesday to run his streak of games with at least one theft to 58. Oladipo is getting some help during the current winning streak from small forward Bojan Bagdanovic, who is averaging 21 points on 58.1 percent shooting over the last three contests.

ABOUT THE KINGS (24-51): Sacramento is 29th in the NBA in scoring at an average of 99.4 points and failed to reach 100 in five of the last six contests. The Kings, who have been strategically resting veterans in the second half to get younger players more time, went with one of their young lineups on Tuesday and watched power forward Skal Labissiere lead the team with 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting. Fellow Kentucky product Willie Cauley-Stein added 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting in the loss after going 5-of-19 from the floor over the previous two contests.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Pacers PF/C Domantas Sabonis (ankle) returned from a six-game absence on Tuesday and scored seven points on 3-of-3 shooting in 24 minutes off the bench.

2. Sacramento PF Zach Randolph (illness) missed the last three games but could return Thursday.

3. Indiana took each of the last three meetings, including a 101-83 home win on Oct. 31.

PREDICTION: Pacers 109, Kings 96