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The Sacramento Kings and Indiana Pacers have at least one thing in common: both are not going to the playoffs. But one thing Sacramento has that Indiana cannot lay claim to is that they have a decent core of youth players. That is not to say that the Pacers’ roster is crap. Far from it; the thing is that besides Danny Granger and maybe Troy Murphy, you have bit players. And I have been a Pacers fan for 35 years plus.

All of that aside, both teams met at Conseco Fieldhouse for a game that would mean little in the standings, although prior to Tuesday’s tilt, Indiana has been a spoiler of sorts, having won five of their past six games.

The beginning was promosing for the Kings as they had a 9-point halftime lead, but the third quarter did them in as Granger scored 11 points, leading Indiana past Sacramento 102-95.

The Kings controlled most of the first half, taking their largest lead at 50-35 on a Carl Landry basket in the second quarter; the Pacers cut it to seven on a pair of Solomon Jones free throws in the period, but Spencer Hawes’  jumper gave Sacramento a 56-47 edge at the intermission.

Indiana began the third quarter with an 11-2 run to tie the score at 58-all; Granger’s 3-pointer extended the Pacers’ lead to nine later in the period, but the Kings got to within 73-70 on a Landry free throw.

The Pacers upped their lead to 77-70 on two Granger baskets to start the fourth quarter; Sacramento cut their deficit to three, but back-to-back treys by Granger and Murphy extended the Pacers’ advantage to 85-76. Following a Kings basket, Indiana scored the next seven points to go ahead 92-78 with six minutes remaining in the game. The Pacers would manage to hold on for the victory.

Granger led the Pacers with 33 points (including 4 three-pointers), 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals while Troy Murphy added 19 (including three treys) with 13 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal.

Beno Udrih and Jason Thompson shared high scoring honors for the Kings scoring 18 apiece – with Udrih grabbing 3 rebounds, dishing out 4 assists, along with 2 steals while Thompson grabbed 11 boards and dished out an assist. Landry and Tyreke Evans scored 17 each – with Landry grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out an assist, along with a steal while Evans grabbed 7 boards, dished out 10 assists along with 4 steals.

Indiana (28-47) plays again on Friday when they host the Miami Heat while Sacramento (24-51) travels to Minneapolis to take on the Minnesota Timberwolves Wednesday night.