Kings fall to Rockets, lose fourth in a row
SACRAMENTO — Sacramento Kings coach Luke Walton made a major change to his starting lineup, inserting Marvin Bagley III in hopes of injecting life into his struggling team, but even that didn’t work.
The Kings lost their fourth in a row, falling 113-104 to the Houston Rockets on Monday night at Golden 1 Center. The Kings have now lost five of their last six and eight of 12. They are 2-5 since Bagley returned from a broken thumb and 0-4 since point guard De’Aaron Fox came back from a severely sprained ankle.
James Harden scored 34 points for the Rockets (21-9), who won their fourth in a row to avenge a 119-118 loss to the Kings on Dec. 9. Russell Westbrook finished with 28 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Fox had 31 points, nine rebounds and six assists for the Kings (12-18), who will play host to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday and the Phoenix
Suns on Saturday. Richaun Holmes had 12 points and 14 rebounds.
Buddy Hield continued to struggle with his shot, scoring 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting from the field and 1-of-8 shooting from 3-point range. Hield left the game at the end of the third quarter and did not return in the fourth. He has made just 4 of 28 (.143) over the past three games.
Walton started Fox, Hield, Harrison Barnes, Bagley and Holmes, trying a lineup that had only logged two minutes together before Monday night. Bagley started in place of Nemanja Bjelica, who was averaging 11.5 points and 6.2 rebounds, shooting 40.5% from 3-point range over the first 29 games.
The Kings were outscored 13-4 over the first 3:32 and trailed 37-21 at the end of the first quarter. They got within five on a 3-pointer by Hield with 3:30 to play in the second quarter and trailed by eight at the break, but the Rockets started the second half with a 10-0 run to take a 75-57 lead on a driving layup by Westbrook.