SACRAMENTO, Calif, March 9 (Ticker) -- After a winless road trip, the Indiana Pacers don't look so tough.

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Playing shorthanded and without composure at times, the slumping Pacers suffered their ninth straight road loss 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.

"Teams go through things like this; we just have to get through it," Pacers All-Star forward Jermaine O'Neal said. "When things go well, they go really well. We just haven't fared too well on the road."

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 in Saturday's loss at Portland.

In addition, O'Neal turned an ankle in the third quarter and was ineffective thereafter. Also, 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 never led after the first two minutes and trailed by as many as 23 points, shooting just 38 percent (34-of-89) from the field, including 0-of-8 from 3-point range.

Under coach Isiah Thomas, the Pacers take an aggressive, physical approach that had them atop the Eastern Conference until their recent slide. Thomas is hopeful this tough stretch will help his team develop another kind of toughness.

"It's been a tough road trip," he said. "For me personally, it really hasn't been as bad for me as it has looked because I understand what we are going through and what steps need to be taken to get to the level that we want to get to. This will make us mentally tough. This is where you get mentally minded. You get hardened as a person and as a team."

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.

"This has been a very good week for us," Kings center Vlade Divac said. "Over the final 18 games, we want to keep playing well and prepare ourselves for the playoffs." The Kings made four 3-pointers in the first quarter, including one by Peja Stojakovic that opened a 29-15 lead with 2:31 remaining.

The Pacers trailed 34-22 entering the second quarter but closed to 52-49 with 55 seconds left on a free throw by O'Neal, who scored 18 of his 20 points in the first half. Stojakovic made a layup before intermission.

"I thought we had a chance to open it up in the first half, but we didn't do it," Kings coach Rick Adelman said.

Two free throws by Chris Webber capped a 6-0 spurt that widened the lead to 78-67 with 2:10 remaining in the third quarter. Indiana still was within 88-77 with just under 10 minutes to go before Sacramento ran off 12 straight points, opening its largest lead at 100-77 on a reverse layup by Keon Clark with 4:20 left.

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

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.