Kings at Rockets
The Houston Rockets are the hottest team in the NBA and seek their eighth consecutive victory when they host the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday. Houston hasn't lost in December and is averaging 119.1 points during the winning streak but only narrowly slipped the past the woeful Brooklyn Nets 122-118 on Monday.
The Rockets allowed 75 second-half points in the win over Brooklyn and there was a collective sigh of relief mixed in with the necessary analysis. "I think we can look at ourselves in the mirror and say individually we could have done a better job," forward Ryan Anderson told reporters, "and as a team, we could have done a better job, too." Sacramento is beginning a stretch of three straight road games and five of six. The Kings won just two of their past seven overall games but one of the victories was Monday's impressive 116-92 thumping of the Los Angeles Lakers.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, CSN California (Sacramento), ROOT (Houston)
ABOUT THE KINGS (9-15): Star center DeMarcus Cousins contributed 31 points, 16 rebounds and five assists in the win over the Lakers after experiencing some shooting issues over the previous five games. Cousins shot less than 40 percent in four of the contests and scored just 16 points - his third-lowest total of the season - in Saturday's loss to the Utah Jazz. Point guard Darren Collison is 7-of-12 from 3-point range over the past two games, and his 20-point effort against the Lakers matched his second-best output of the season.
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (18-7): Star guard James Harden recorded his 10th 30-point outing of the season when he posted 36 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds against the Nets. Harden is averaging 13 assists over the past three games after a brief lull in which he registered eight or fewer four times during a five-game span. Backup shooting guard Eric Gordon buried six 3-pointers in each of the past two games and is averaging 21.7 points over the last nine contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Rockets won nine of the past 10 meetings, including a 117-104 road victory on Nov. 25.
2. Sacramento SF Rudy Gay (hip flexor) and SG Ben McLemore (thigh) were injured Monday and are questionable participants.
3. Houston connected on 17 3-pointers in the win over the Nets to extend its NBA record of making at least 10 to 24 consecutive games.