Kings Fall To .500 After Loss To Houston
Jan 2, 2021, 4:36 PM | Updated: 4:41 pm
(Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
(Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
Sacramento couldn’t close the gap late, dropping its second-straight contest
The Sacramento Kings were unable to ring in the new year with a win on Saturday afternoon, falling to the Houston Rockets by a final of SCORE-SCORE at the Toyota Center.
With the loss, Sacramento falls to 3-3 on the season.
The Kings entered the fourth quarter trailing by two points, but things would soon get out of hand after a quick 9-0 run by Houston pushed the deficit into double-digits.
John Wall and the rest of the Rockets would promptly put the game away, sweeping the two-game set that took place over the weekend in Houston.
Sacramento only scored 30 points in the entire second half. The team’s 11 assists were also a season low on Saturday.
Wall put on a vintage performance, finishing with 28 points on 11-of-21 from the field in the win. The five-time All-Star has looked strong in his first action since the 2018-19 season.
De’Aaron Fox was the pulse of the Kings offense on Saturday night, scoring 23 points to go along with two steals.
Besides Fox, points were hard to come by for the Sacramento offense, who played their first game of the season without rookie guard Tyrese Haliburton.
Haliburton will be out for Monday’s game against Golden State before being evaluated after the team returns to Sacramento prior to Wednesday’s game against Chicago.
Buddy Hield had a very strong start to the game against Houston, hitting five of his first eight three-point field goal attempts. As he did on Thursday night, Hield would struggle late, finishing with 17 points on six-of-17 from the field.
Harrison Barnes had another strong performance, scoring 19 points and grabbing seven rebounds in the loss.
Forward Marvin Bagley III scored 12 points on five-of-13 from the field and snared nine rebounds. As was the case in the last three contests, Bagley was not on the floor for crunch time in the final period, playing 25 minutes–the least of all starters.
Hassan Whiteside did not play against Houston on Saturday after only appearing in three minutes during Thursday’s loss.
Sacramento is facing some rotational concerns due to the absence of Haliburton and the early season struggles of Bagley and Whiteside. The Kings will need to get answers to how they will plug the hole that Haliburton left behind if they want to continue on their .500 pace.
Coming Up
Sacramento will travel to the Bay Area for a matchup with Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors.
Golden State will be on the second night of a back-to-back after they face the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday night.
Be sure to tune in for all of the action right here on Sports 1140 KHTK, with pregame coverage at 6:30pm PST with tip-off following at 7:00pm PST.
