Rockets at Kings
The Sacramento Kings are having some trouble closing out games with DeMarcus Cousins out of the lineup. The Kings will try to take advantage of a road-weary Houston Rockets' squad when they open a five-game homestand on Thursday. Cousins (viral meningitis) has missed seven straight games and watched the Kings drop five of those contests, including a 98-95 setback at the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.
The Kings held a 12-point lead in the second half and were ahead in the final five minutes before falling short against the Lakers. “This loss really, really stings,” Sacramento coach Michael Malone told reporters. “It’s a bad loss. Not because of who we played, I would never disrespect the Lakers, but for us to have the lead and play as well as we did at times, just to give it all back, and not have the poise to handle the adversity down the stretch.” The Rockets suffered a 105-93 loss at the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday and won’t have any sympathy for the Kings’ situation with their own star center, Dwight Howard, sitting out.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, TNT
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (16-5): Cousins put up 29 points and 17 rebounds on Nov. 26 at Houston but James Harden countered with 26 points and Isaiah Canaan scored 24 as the Rockets claimed a 102-89 win. Howard, who missed his 11th straight game on Wednesday and remains day-to-day, sat out that contest and has since been joined by Canaan (ankle) on the bench. The lack of depth resulted in five bench points on Wednesday as Harden’s 34 points were not enough to lift Houston over the best team in the NBA.
ABOUT THE KINGS (11-11): Cousins could miss the rest of the month while recovering from the illness and Sacramento is missing is best weapon on both ends of the court. “He bails us out on offense,” guard Darren Collison told the Sacramento Bee of Cousins. “He gives us another body that rebounds. He’s the best rebounder in the game, so we definitely miss him.” Reggie Evans has stepped up to fill some of the void on the boards while Collison is taking on some extra scoring responsibilities and posted a season-high 26 points in Tuesday’s setback.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Rockets have taken three straight in the series, including a 129-103 win in their last visit to the Kings on Feb. 25.
2. Rockets F Donatas Motiejunas is averaging 16.4 points on 58.3 percent shooting in the last five games.
3. Sacramento F Rudy Gay has scored 20 or more points in six of the last seven games.