By: Eric He

By resting DeMarcus Cousins in addition to sitting Rudy Gay and Ben McLemore with injuries, the Sacramento Kings were the victims of a “schedule loss” on Wednesday night in a 132-98 shellacking by the Rockets on the road.

James Harden recorded a triple double with 15 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds in just three quarters of action as the Rockets beat the Kings for the sixth straight time at the Toyota Center.

Sacramento trailed by as many as 39 points in the loss. The Kings received 20 points from Gary Temple and 12 from Anthony Tolliver. But Kosta Koufas’ and Omri Casspi’s 10 points each was far from the typical scoring output of Gay and Cousins, the Kings’ two best offensive players.

The Kings were down double-digits by the end of the first quarter and trailed by 21 at halftime. Meanwhile, the Rockets, in their eighth straight win, bombed away from beyond-the-arc and knocked down 22 three-pointers.

Houston reached the century mark late in the third quarter, taking a 102-67 lead into the fourth.

“There are times when teams are going to have to rest people and that gives other guys an opportunity to step up,” Matt Barnes said. “We have to weather the storm until Ben and Rudy get back and I think DeMarcus is playing in the next game. We have to pick up the pieces and continue to play hard and improve.”

The Kings fall to 4-10 on the road. They travel to Memphis on Friday to play the Grizzlies