Sacramento Kings’ Rally Falls Short Against Rockets

Joe Johnson’s Rockets got the win 100-91 in his “revenge game” since being traded to the Kings from the Jazz and being subsequently bought out by Sacramento.

Game Summary

The first quarter started well for the Sacramento Kings as they took an 11-9 lead midway through the quarter. Following a few lead changes, the Kings ended the first with a 25-20 advantage. The wheels, however, fell off after that strong opening frame.

The Houston Rockets opened the second on a 7-0 run en route to outscoring the Kings 35-20 in the quarter. Bogdan Bogdanovic paced the Kings with just eight points through two quarters as the Rockets took a 55-45 lead into the half.

Houston started to open things up coming out of the break. Another quick run pushed their lead to 69-52 and the game seemed firmly in hand for the Rockets. The Kings, fortunately, did not get the memo. An 11-3 run to close out the third kept the powder blue and red within striking distance going into the final quarter.

Sacramento fell behind by double-digits to open the period but cut the deficit to just six with 5:17 remaining. Sadly, they couldn’t capitalize and fell to Houston 100-91 in the final game before the All-Star Break.

Final Thoughts

All in all, the Kings never really felt like they were a legit threat to beat the Rockets tonight, even without Eric Gordon. On the bright side, losing by just nine points to what is currently the greatest offense of all-time is a win in itself.

One piece of bad news, De’Aaron Fox left the game with 34.3 seconds remaining after suffering a scary head injury. He will undoubtedly go through the league’s concussion protocol and will have the entirety of the All-Star break to recover. Provided, he withdraws from the Rising Stars Game.