OKLAHOMA CITY • Indiana's Jeff Teague scored 30 points, eight of them in overtime, to lead six double-figure scorers who powered the Pacers over the Oklahoma City Thunder 115-111 in a National Basketball Association (NBA) game on Sunday.
Russell Westbrook, who had game highs of 31 points, 15 assists and 11 rebounds in a losing cause, sank a three-pointer with two seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to pull the Thunder level at 103-103 and send the game into overtime.
However, Teague sank a three-point shot, converted a three-point play and sank two free throws in overtime for the win, as the visiting Pacers improved to 7-7 while Oklahoma City fell to 8-6.
"Just wasn't ready," Westbrook said. "I could have did a lot of things better. I have to come out and be ready to play every night. I feel like I let my guys down and we have to be better."
Thaddeus Young had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Pacers, while Glenn Robinson III had 16 points and 11 rebounds for Indiana, who kept their star player Paul George out of the line-up due to a sore left ankle.
George leads the Pacers with 21 points and 7.1 rebounds a game.
"We have guys that are capable of playing at a high level," Teague said.
"They stepped up tonight. We've got confidence in everybody on the roster. It showed."
While Westbrook was lucky to tie the game in the dying seconds of regular time, the Toronto Raptors' Terrence Ross was not as fortunate.
In Sacramento, the Kings beat the Raptors in a controversial finish that left Toronto coach Dwayne Casey struggling to accept the outcome.
In an ending that neither team could quite believe, Sacramento held on for a 102-99 win, when the referees ruled that Ross did not release his last-ditch three-pointer before the final buzzer.
Ross appeared to tie the game with his prayer with less than one second left.
However, replays showed that Kings forward DeMarcus Cousins tipped the preceding inbound pass, so even though Ross jacked up his shot well before the final horn, the referees ruled after a lengthy review that the clock had not started upon Cousins' tip, as it should have.
According to referee Mike Callahan, the clock should have started about half a second faster than it did. Therefore, the officials adjudged that time was up before Ross took the shot.
The ruling riled the Raptors. Said Ross: "I knew I had at least two seconds.
"I knew I could take a dribble and still get it off. I don't know how a tipped ball can amount for five- or six-tenths of a second... Nothing can justify it. It's just a bad call."
Casey said the Raptors (8-5) would look into the call with the league but did not know if the team had any real options other than to swallow the difficult outcome against the Kings (5-9).
He fumed: "I've got to hear another explanation, because we reviewed it about 10 times in there. Even if the clock started once DeMarcus Cousins deflected it, Ross caught it, shot it with plenty of time... I've got to hear more."
In other matches, Chicago's Jimmy Butler scored 40 points to power the Bulls (9-5) over the hosts Los Angeles Lakers (7-7) 118-110.
In New York, the Knicks (6-7) defeated Atlanta (9-4) 104-94 at Madison Square Garden.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
