Kings @ Pacers

Who will WIN this matchup?

Sacramento Kings (13-11)

@ Indiana Pacers (15-10)

Current odds:

Sacramento Kings: (+180)

Indiana Pacers: (-220)

• The line for this game is Indiana by 5.5 points.

• The Indiana Pacers will try to avenge their most recent loss when they open up a three-game homestand against the Sacramento Kings on Saturday. The Kings sent the Pacers to a 111-110 loss in the finale of Indiana’s recent four-game road trip, riding a balanced attack and a late putback by Willie Cauley-Stein to the triumph. The Pacers and their league-leading scoring defense have done well to recover by topping Chicago 96-90 at home before picking up a convincing 112-90 victory at Orlando on Friday, despite playing shorthanded. “It was a team effort,” coach Nate McMillan told reporters after the team played its ninth straight game without leading scorer Victor Oladipo (knee) and also missed third-leading scorer and top rebounder Domantas Sabonis (illness). “We talk about our guys, the guys that are not in rotation, to have themselves ready. Injuries are going to happen and you gotta be ready.”

•  The win over the Pacers last Saturday ignited a three-game winning streak for Sacramento, which rolled 129-110 at Cleveland on Friday. De’Aaron Fox scored 30 points and handed out 12 assists as the Kings improved to 6-2 against Eastern Conference opponents.

• Fox was 12-for-16 from the field, Cauley-Stein made all five of his shots and rookie Marvin Bagley III went 8-of-9 off the bench as Sacramento shot a season-high 57.1 percent Friday night. Fox also made 4-of-5 from 3-point range and is 5-of-6 over the last two games, but he was more pleased with his best assist total in more than two weeks. “I always tell (assistant coach Larry Lewis) if I make my first three I know I’m gonna have a really good game shooting the ball,” Fox told NBCS California. “I made it and it just kept going. I tell the guys all the time, I get off more from getting my guys involved. I’ve been able to score my whole life. Getting people involved, its a better feeling to me.”

• Bojan Bogdanovic scored 27 points in the loss to Sacramento and finished with 26 on Friday while making 10-of-18 from the floor as he continues to do his best to fill Oladipo’s void on the offensive end. “Bogey’s a bad, bad man,” teammate Thaddeus Young told FS Indiana in a postgame interview. “He can go out there and he can score from a variety of ways. He shoots the basketball very, very well, but he also can put it on the floor and make plays for other guys.” Young had 14 points while Cory Joseph (15 points) and Kyle O’Quinn (12 points, 10 rebounds) led a solid effort by the bench.

• Kings G Bogdan Bogdanovic led the team with 20 points in last week’s win over the Pacers.

• Indiana PG Darren Collison recorded eight assists with zero turnovers Friday.

• Sacramento SG Buddy Hield is averaging 22.5 points in 25.5 minutes over the last two games.