Pacers' Lavoy Allen ruled out for Kings game

Indiana Pacers forward Lavoy Allen was ruled out for Saturday night's game against Sacramento. A sore right knee was listed as the reason. He was limping after Saturday morning's shootaround.

FRIDAY'S UPDATE: Indiana Pacers backup center Lavoy Allen was scheduled for an MRI late Friday after banging his right knee in a 103-82 victory over New York the previous night.

The team announced it will list Allen as questionable for Saturday night's game against Sacramento at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Coach Frank Vogel didn't seem overly concerned about Allen's knee being a long-term issue, but he asked for a recall of rookie Shayne Whittington from Fort Wayne's NBA Development League team just in case.

"(We need to) find out exactly what is going on," Vogel said of Allen's knee.

Vogel said George Hill (sore left groin) played only 12 minutes against the Knicks — he was scheduled to play 20 minutes — because the Pacers took command of the game in the second half.

"C.J. (Watson) made a few shots, and I wanted to keep him in there," Vogel said. "Then we started building the lead, so we didn't want (Hill) to aggravate anything in a 20-point blowout."

Assuming Hill doesn't regress, Vogel expects Saturday night's game to be Hill's last coming off the bench. The Pacers (17-31) will have four days off before hosting Detroit on Wednesday.

Sacramento (16-28) will take a seven-game losing streak into tonight's game in Cleveland. The Kings won the Dec. 5 matchup with the Pacers, 102-101 in overtime in Sacramento.

Follow Curt Cavin on Twitter at @curtcavin

SACRAMENTO at INDIANA

Tipoff: 7 p.m. Saturday.

TV: Fox Sports Indiana.

Radio: WFNI-107.5 FM, -1070 AM.

KINGS (16-28)

Pos. Player PPG Key stat PG Darren Collison 16.3 5.8 apg SG Ben McLemore 11.8 3.1 rpg SF Rudy Gay 20.2 4.1 apg PF Derrick Williams 6.8 2.6 rpg C DeMarcus Cousins 23.8 12.3 rpg 6th Carl Landry 8.4 4.5 rpg

PACERS (17-31)

Pos. Player PPG Key stat PG C.J. Watson 10.3 3.8 apg SG Rodney Stuckey 11.9 3.0 apg SF Solomon Hill 9.8 4.3 rpg PF David West 12.7 6.9 rpg C Roy Hibbert 11.2 7.0 rpg 6th George Hill 13.6 2.6 apg

STORYLINES

The All-Star snub: Seems odd that Cousins wasn't selected as one of the Western Conference's reserves for next month's All-Star Game given that he's one of three players averaging 20-plus points and 10-plus rebounds, but Portland guard Damian Lillard is arguably a more notable omission. Cousins has been gimpy on his ankle in recent days, so his availability on a back-to-back (the Kings were in Cleveland on Friday) is uncertain. If he plays, look for some fun in the post as Hibbert tries to get a piece of the Kentucky product. It also will be a battle of big-men salaries: Hibbert's $14.9 million to Cousins' $14.7 million.

He said what? Vogel on Cousins, who didn't play against the Pacers last month in Sacramento: "(He's) as good as any big man in the NBA. He's obviously a beast on the glass, but his ability to shoot the basketball from the perimeter in basically a center's body makes him very, very difficult to guard. He can take smaller players down low, bigger defenders out on the perimeter and (he's) one of the best rebounders in the game, one of the best talents in this league."

New/old uniforms coming: Look for the Pacers to wear their FloJo retro jerseys at six games this season, starting with the Detroit game on Wednesday.

Prediction: This feels like another blowout given the back-to-back for Sacramento, which went to Cleveland with a seven-game losing streak (only the Lakers were worse at nine straight losses). The Kings can score (13th in the league), but they're 30th in defense. Gay can score 27 as he did in the 102-101 victory over the Pacers on Dec. 5, but this game won't be on the West Coast. The Pacers win big, 101-79.

— Curt Cavin