Game Recap: Houston Rockets Restrict Any Comeback From The Sacramento Kings
By Rafe Wong
Despite the Sacramento Kings’ bench electrifying the offense, the Houston Rockets halted any type of comeback made, and handed the Kings their 5th loss of the season with a score of 116-110. Notable Kings that played well tonight was Darren Collison with 22 points and 9 assists, and Omri Casspi with 22 points as well, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals.
This game showed the same type of theme that the previous two games showed for the Sacramento Kings: They cannot win without their All-Star in DeMarcus Cousins. For the last three games without Boogie, the Kings have mightily struggled on both ends of the court.
The biggest concern that I have for the Kings is how lethargic they look defensively. Too many times during tonight’s game, the Kings allowed the Rockets to score easy baskets whether it was off playing poor transition defense, being nonchalant closing in on shots, or not bringing in defensive rebounds. These aspects of the defense will definitely need to improve going forward if the Kings want to keep their goal of reaching postseason alive.
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One positive to take out of this game was how production the bench was when put in. Players like Collison, Casspi, Ben McLemore, Willie Cauley-Stein, and even Seth Curry came to play as they all played a significant part in the couple of attempted comebacks made by the team throughout the game. I suspect these guys to be playing more with each going forward into the season.
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Overall, although the Kings did make a couple of rallies throughout the game, the Rockets held their ground and came out with a win. Although the bench played well for Sacramento, the starters did not, and the defense overall was just sluggish.
Despite the Rockets being a good team, the schedule does not get any easier for the purple and white, as they have the Golden State Warriors coming into their home court the very next day, plus the San Antonio Spurs coming to town on Monday.
For the Kings to even be competitive in these next two games, they be more stingy on defense and more efficient on offense as well.