Kings came in at disadvantage

With John Wall, Eric Gordon and DeMarcus Cousins making their season debuts Thursday after a week in quarantine, the Kings came into the first of consecutive games against the Rockets without the benefit of seeing much of

their rotation together. That posed a particular challenge that they will not face in Saturday’s rematch.

“It’s difficult,” Kings coach Luke Walton said before Thursday’s meeting. “A lot of the game-planning is built around James (Harden) and the different options in trying to slow him down, if that’s possible. We talk about the other guys from what we know about them. There’s some preseason clips with them in it, but you can’t take toomuch fromthe preseason.

“Wall looks just as fast as he did before… in the clips that I saw, but as far as a team strategy, there’s not much to go on.”

The Kings still will not have much preparation time with the quick turnaround. But Walton said they at least got a look at Wall at full

speed.

“Some guys, my guess is, haven’t been in the league since John Wall played last,” Walton said. “We talked about he’s righthanded but he likes to drive left. He always rejects screens. Those are things that hurt us throughout the game. Those points add up.”

Of the Kings rotation players Thursday, only rookie Tyrese Haliburton had never played against Wall. Marvin Bagley III had just one game against him before Wall last played in December 2018.

“It’s very, very difficult to beat the same team two times in a row,” Harden said. “We know how important it is to stay focused, stay locked in. We have a lot of work to do, but I think everybody is excited.”