Welcome Back: Kings Send Rockets To 14th Straight Loss In First Game Back From Break

Sacramento enjoyed their largest margin of victory this season against a depleted Houston team

In their first game back after a week-long All-Star break, the Sacramento Kings returned in style on Thursday night.

Behind an explosive game from De’Aaron Fox, the Kings would easily rout a struggling Houston Rockets team by a final of 125-105 at Golden 1 Center.

All five Kings starters finished in double-figures in what was one of Sacramento’s most impressive scoring outputs of the 2020-21 season.

Fox makin' it look easy tonight 🔥 pic.twitter.com/A16p28apey

— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) March 12, 2021

After a back-and-forth first quarter, Sacramento created some separation in the second quarter after a 17-6 run pushed their lead into double-digits at the break thanks to strong play from De’Aaron Fox, Harrison Barnes and Richaun Holmes.

That strong play would carry over into the second-half, with Marvin Bagley III getting involved as well to help push the Kings lead to 20 points–only the third time this season that the team has held a lead of 20 points or more.

The Kings would never look back, leading by as many as 26 points in what was an overall blowout win over a Rockets team that has not won a game in over a month.

Scorers Aplenty

Fox topped the 20-point mark for the 27th time this season and seventh-straight game, finishing with 30 points, seven rebounds and nine assists in the win.

It was also the seventh time this season that the 23-year-old has topped the 30-point mark.

Smooth assist from Swipa 😎 pic.twitter.com/OuT4srFCmL

— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) March 12, 2021

One of Fox’s premier plays of the night came on a flashy behind-the-back pass to Richaun Holmes, who would finish off the impressive play with one of his patented push-shots.

Holmes was incredibly effective once again, posting his 12th double-double of the season.

The 27-year-old finished with 20 points on nine-of-11 from the field to go along with 11 rebounds and a blocked shot over 34 minutes.

Buddy Hield scored 20 points on five-of-13 shooting from beyond the three-point arc, topping the 20-point mark for the 12th time this season.

Although Hield did most of his scoring in the first quarter (11 points), the 28-year-old did a solid job of staying active in other factors of the game, finishing with six rebounds and seven assists over 38 minutes.

Return of the Rookie

Sacramento got their rookie phenom back from injury on Thursday night, with Tyrese Haliburton returning to the floor to face the Rockets after two weeks away.

Haliburton made his return to action after missing four games due to a sore calf.

In his first game since February 25th, the rookie guard was quiet for the most part, finishing with five points, three rebounds and two assists over only 18 minutes.

This spin move from Hali 👀 pic.twitter.com/RM9YOTm0zB

— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) March 12, 2021

Kings head coach Luke Walton stated before the game that Haliburton would be on a minutes restriction, stating that the team was going to be cautious in bringing the 21-year-old back into the swing of things.

While the rookie might have only seen the floor for 18 minutes on Thursday, expect to see that number of minutes increase in the near future.

Sacramento struggled to find bench scoring with Haliburton shelved, something that the former Iowa State guard can do on any given night when allotted his usual 30 minutes per game.

Cory Joseph provided a solid boost off of the Sacramento bench, scoring 13 points to go along with a career-high five steals over 34 minutes.

Marvin Bagley rounded out the Kings scorers with 11 points (seven-of-seven from the free-throw line) and seven rebounds.

On The Move?

With the March 25th trade deadline approaching, Harrison Barnes was his usual self during Thursday night’s win over Houston.

The veteran forward posted his second double-double of the season, scoring 20 points on eight-of-15 shooting from the field to go along with 11 rebounds.

It has been highly speculated that several teams like the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers could be interested in acquiring Barnes–as well as forward Nemanja Bjelica.

With less than two weeks until the deadline, expect the rumor mill to continue to churn out Kings rumors.

Will Sacramento hold on to Barnes?

Replacing a player of his caliber and one that can play the small-forward position–a position that the Kings have struggled to staff for most of the past 15 years–could play into new general manager Monte McNair’s final decision.

Notes

• Houston was without starting guard John Wall (knee contusion) and center Christian Wood (ankle sprain) on Thursday night. Wood had given the Kings fits earlier in the season during a set of games played in Toyota Center, dropping consecutive 20-point, 10-rebound double-doubles over two Rockets wins.

• With the loss, Houston has lost 14 games in a row, their longest losing streak in over 20 years.

• Kings center Hassan Whiteside is still out due to health & safety protocols. Walton said postgame that he could not comment on the center’s status due to league protocols.

Coming Up

Sacramento will hit the road for a six-game road trip beginning on Saturday night in Atlanta where they will face old friend Bogdan Bogdanovic and the Hawks.

Bogdanovic signed a four-year deal with Atlanta during the abbreviated offseason after new Kings GM Monte McNair chose to let the 28-year-old guard walk in restricted free-agency.

The Kings swept last season’s two-game set and are currently on a four-game winning streak against Atlanta that dates back to March 22, 2018.

Be sure to tune in for all of the action right here on Sports 1140 KHTK, starting with pregame coverage at 4:00pm PST with tip-off following at 4:30pm PST.

Upcoming Kings Schedule

• March 13 @ Atlanta Hawks
• March 15 @ Charlotte Hornets
• March 17 @ Washington Wizards
• March 19 @ Boston Celtics
• March 20 @ Philadelphia 76ers