By George Devine, Sr.

When a habitual high scorer gets into foul trouble early in the game, that spells a tough situation ahead. So it was when DeMarcus Cousins picked up two penalties at the beginning of the first period in Houston. But as the game went on, he scored when it counted, in the fourth, and brought the Kings to a 110-106 win. Although Cousins scored only 17 points — fewer than usual for him — teammate Rudy Gay added 25. In the last period Sacramento outscored the home team 30-20 to make the difference. Four of those points were scored by Cousins in a hurry, bringing the lead to 105-104 and overcoming a deficit of 3. The Sacramento center then stripped the ball from James Harden, feeding Ben McLemore for another score. That was one of Cousins’ 4 steals for the evening; he also had 16 boards.

Marcus Thornton scored 15. Isaiah Thomas had 17 points and 10 assists.

Howard scored 15 and had 8 boards. Jeremy Lin contributed 14 points and 6 assists.