SPORTS

Scola sits for rest, snapping active streak of 277 games

Candace Buckner
Scola had never missed a game in his two years with the Pacers -- in fact, he hadn't missed a game since April 13, 2011 until Thursday night

Sometimes, Iron Man must rest -- even if it isn't his idea.

Indiana Pacers backup power forward Luis Scola remained on the bench during the 103-82 blowout win over the New York Knicks.

In his eight years in the NBA, Scola, 34, had never missed a game due to suspension, personal reasons or even a "Coach's Decision." However on Thursday, Pacers coach Frank Vogel rested Scola, who had played the full schedule of regular season games in six of his seven full NBA seasons.

The night off ended Scola's streak of appearing in 277 straight regular season games, the second-longest active streak in the league. The last time Scola had missed a game was April 13, 2011 when he was still with the Houston Rockets.

After the game, Scola offered brief explanations into the rest decision -- one that he did not exactly share with Vogel.

"They told me they wanted me to rest and I tried to see if I could play but they say it was better if they did it this way and that's fine," Scola said. "Move on."

When asked if he felt that he needed the rest, Scola, who said he is not injured, responded: "Doesn't matter. (Vogel) wanted to do that, that's fine."

"It's his call at the end of the day," Scola said.

Scola was informed on Wednesday that he would sit in a move that mirrors how the NBA champion San Antonio Spurs handle aging stars like Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili.

"And that's what was part of their argument," Scola said. "They wanted to do similar to what the Spurs (do)."

Vogel said the decision to rest Scola was also about giving Lavoy Allen some minutes as the backup power forward.

" We don't want to be concerned about any long-term streak or anything like that," Vogel said. "We said when we got healthy, when we got five healthy bigs that I was going to find spots to get Lavoy Allen in there because he's a heck of a basketball player and he's been one of our better players the first half of the season."

"It was more about Lavoy, then Luis."

This season, Scola has averaged 20.4 minutes per game along with 9.0 points and 6.3 rebounds. Though Scola is the oldest player on the roster - four months older than David West - he has maintained a high level of fitness. Scola rested little over the past summer, playing in the FIBA Basketball World Cup for his home country Argentina. Then, Scola returned to the Pacers and soon carried the responsibilities as the starting power forward when West missed nearly the first month with an ankle injury.

"David has had some time out because he was injured, Roy's had some time out because he was injured, Ian's had some time out because he was injured and Lavoy's been able to play through all of that," Vogel said. "He hadn't played some significant minutes in a while, so I chose this game to rest Luis. I also thought that Luis could benefit from a night off and sort of recharge the batteries and come back and get ready to play."

This month, Scola's minutes have slipped (16 per game), as well as his scoring production. Through January, Scola has made a .414 percentage of his shots for 6.8 points.

Scola repeatedly said that he "didn't know" if he would rest more games, but Vogel revealed how he would play it "by ear" now that Allen had suffered a right knee injury during his nine minutes on Thursday.

"I expect Luis to be back there," Vogel said, "if not next game then the game after that."

Apparently, a computer snafu created an issue for the Pacers' scorers who could not insert "rest" as the reason to Scola's DNP. So, the official box score from Jan. 29, 2015 will be one for the ages: the incredibly rare sight of "DNP-Coach's Decision" next to Scola's name.

--

SACRAMENTO at INDIANA

Tipoff: 7 p.m. Saturday

TV: Fox Sports Indiana.

Radio: WFNI-FM (107.5), WFNI-AM (1070).

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 that wasn't: It seemed odd that Cousins wasn't initially selected as one of the Western Conference's reserves for next month's All-Star Game, although he was named to the team Friday to replace Kobe Bryant. Cousins is one of three players averaging 20-plus points and 10-plus rebounds. He 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.

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.

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."

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