By Charlie O. Mallonee

Sacramento – No DeMarcus Cousins, no defense and too much James Harden equaled a loss for the Kings on Friday night. The Houston Rockets – sans Dwight Howard – defeated the Sacramento Kings 116-110 at Sleep Train Arena.

The Kings announced before the game that DeMarcus Cousins’ strained Achilles tendon would prevent him from playing against Houston and would keep him on the bench versus the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night. It is very tough for a team to end a losing streak when your best player is on the bench in street clothes.

The Rockets roared out of the gate building up a 21-6 lead on the Kings in the first quarter. Sacramento’s starters were unable to score or stop Houston from scoring. It appeared that it would be a Rockets runaway, but the Kings bench had a different idea.

The Sacramento second unit led by Darren Collison with assistance from Willie Cauley-Stein, Omri Casspi and Ben McLemore put together a nice run to put the Kings within striking distance. The Kings trailed 29-23 after the first period.

The Kings continued to play small ball and took the lead 37-35 for the first and only time in the game with 7:23 left to play in the first half. James Harden caught fire scoring 17 points in the quarter and Houston took a 61-50 lead to the locker room at the half.

The Rockets went on a 10-3 run to open the third quarter and it appeared that game might get out of hand. George Karl went to his bench and they responded by making defensive stops while scoring points. Sacramento went on an 11-0 run that included a dramatic 3-point basket by Darren Collison to keep the Kings in the game trailing Houston by seven – 85 to 78 – heading to the final period.

The Kings continued to make baskets and cut the Houston lead to one point when Seth Curry hit a 3-point bucket with 10:02 to play. The Rockets then went on a run that allowed them to take a 100-89 lead with 6:53 remaining. Sacramento’s second unit continued to work hard but in the end, they could not overcome the hard charging Houston offense led by Harden. The Rockets won the game by six points, 116-110.

Kings

Sacramento shot below their season average hitting on 40 of 93 field goals for a .430 percentage. The Kings went 9-for-28 (.321) from 3-point land. One of the positive notes was the free throw shooting. They converted 21 of 29 free throw opportunities for a .724 average. The team has been averaging just .640 from the charity stripe.

The Sacramento bench was the story in the game a they scored 70 points. Darren Collison and Omri Casspi each scored 22 off the bench. Ben McLemore had a strong night for the second unit scoring 11 points, grabbing four rebounds, recording four assists and adding three steals. Seth Curry scored eight points while Willie Cauley-Stein added seven points and nine rebounds.

Rudy Gay led the Kings starters with 15 points. Rajon Rondo scored 12 points, pulled down eight rebounds and handed out five assists.

Sacramento committed 15 turnovers while recording 26 assists. Houston out-rebounded the Kings 49-43.

Houston

This game was all about the play of James Harden and some devastating 3-point shooting for the Rockets. Harden posted a double-double scoring 43 points and hauling down 13 rebounds in 41 minutes of playing time.

Trevor Ariza scored 18 points going 4-for-8 from long distance. Former King Marcus Thornton went 4-for-10 from beyond the 3-point line scoring 16 points. Ty Lawson and Clint Capela scored 13 points each.

As a team, Houston shot .488 from the floor, .417 from beyond the 3-point arc and .778 from the free throw line. The Rockets dished out 23 assists and turned the ball over 21 times. Houston’s bench added just 13 points.

Dwight Howard was held out of the game to rest his back. He is expected to play in the Rockets next game versus the Clippers.

What they had to say after the game

“All you can ask of your team when your team is struggling … and a lot of our offense was pretty good but we didn’t make shots to reward them,” said Kings head coach George Karl. “Their bench came in and got juiced, played the game at a high level for an extended period of time. The hole we dug, and we ran out of gas.”

“The nightmare when you play Houston is you have defend layups and threes. First half we did a good job covering threes and didn’t cover the layups. Second half we covered the layup and didn’t cover the three’” added Karl.

Up next

The Kings will have no time to lick their wounds as they must turnaround and face the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors on Saturday night. The Warriors (6-0) have yet to lose this season.

Houston travels to Los Angeles to face the Clippers tomorrow night. Dwight Howard is expected to play for the Rockets.