AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli

By Jeff Hall

SACRAMENTO –

A first half lead was not strong enough for the Kings to come away with a win. The Houston Rockets defeated the Kings 113-109 in overtime.

The Kings defense was strong in the first half. They held the Rockets to thirty six points in the first half. The lowest first half scoring of the season for the Rockets to fall behind the Kings by 10 points at the half.

Both teams were without their star players. The Rockets were without Dwight Howard and Demarcus Cousins was still out of action fighting viral meningitis. The Kings have a 2-6 record without Cousins in the line up.

It was a common second half performance for the Kings, their inability to protect the ball handling and turning the ball over frequently in the third and fourth quarter allowed the Rocket to cut away the Kings lead . The Kings had a total of 21 turnovers in the game. The Rockets were 15 of 44 beyond the 3 point line.

Darren Collison led the Kings in scoring with 24 points

James Harden came out firing in the second half and took control of his team in the second half and put the Rockets right back into the game that went into overtime where the Rockets took there first lead of he game and never looked back thanks mostly to Harden who scored a game high total of 44 points. Harden Scored 10 of his points in overtime to put the Kings away for good.

Up next the Kings will take on the Detroit Pistons at Sleep Train Arena on Saturday.