Sacramento 107, Indiana 88

SACRAMENTO, March 10 (UPI) -- Playing shorthanded and without composure at times, the slumping Indiana Pacers suffered their ninth straight road loss Sunday night with a 107-88 setback to the Sacramento Kings, who cruised to their fourth straight win.

The Pacers went 0-5 on their western swing. Overall, they have lost 10 of 11 to fall 1 1/2 games behind first-place Detroit in the Central Division.

Indiana is losing players to injury and insolence. All-Star center Brad Miller sat out with a sore left foot and flaky forward Ron Artest served a one-game suspension for collecting his sixth flagrant foul point of the season in Saturday's loss at Portland.

In addition, O'Neal turned an ankle in the third quarter, and was ineffective thereafter, and forward Al Harrington, who picked up a technical foul in the third quarter, was thrown out in the game's final minute for trying to start a wrestling match with Kings forward Gerald Wallace.

"Wallace just snapped his hands backwards and I said, 'Calm down,'" said Harrington, who had 27 points and 11 rebounds. "It wasn't anything. I was getting frustrated because I was getting fouled a lot and they weren't calling it. I was getting frustrated down the stretch, and I intentionally tried to foul him and not hurt him. It wasn't like I tried to throw him down."

The Pacers looked like a team ready to go home. They did not lead after the first two minutes and trailed by as many as 23 points, shooting just 38 percent from the field. They missed all eight of their three-point attempts.

Also, the Pacers thought the Kings were running up the score at the end of the game, although Sacramento had the end of its bench on the floor for the final four minutes and Wallace is a fan favorite at Arco Arena.

"I take it personally when teams try to run up the score," O'Neal said. "You're up by 18-20 points and you're still running up the score? Yeah, I take it personally."

"We'll see them again in Indy," said Harrington, whose team hosts the Kings on April 1.

Mike Bibby and Bobby Jackson scored 17 points apiece for Sacramento, which has won nine of 10 overall and seven in a row at home.

"We got a good lead in the first quarter and we were able to keep it, although Indy kept on coming back," said Kings forward Peja Stojakovic. "We got an easy win."

Chris Webber had 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Stojakovic scored 14 points for the Kings, who shot 52 percent (43-of-83).

Jeff Foster had 12 points and 11 boards, and Reggie Miller scored 11 points for the Pacers.