Rockets seek more road success against Kings

The Houston Rockets continue a six-game road trip that runs through Christmas Day when they visit the Sacramento Kings on Sunday night.

Houston played at Denver for the second time in less than a week on Saturday and defeated the Nuggets 115-101. The Rockets fell 128-125 in overtime to Denver on Monday.

Houston coach Ime Udoka was pleased with the improved effort Saturday that included his team knocking down 19 of 35 3-point attempts (54.3%).

"We guarded at a high level, we shot it at a high level," Udoka said after Saturday's victory. "We didn't turn it over and played solid defense in general. ... It was a much better effort overall."

Houston endured a major collapse two nights earlier in New Orleans.

The lowly Pelicans matched a franchise record by overcoming a 25-point, third-quarter deficit to post a 133-128 overtime win over the Rockets.

Kevin Durant scored 32 points against the Pelicans and followed up with 31 against the Nuggets. Durant scored 25 in the Monday visit to Denver.

Naturally, he was feeling much better about the team's showing on Saturday.

"It was a fun game. Glad we got the win," Durant said. "I'm not celebrating like it's the championship, but we (had) lost two in a row. We wanted to win."

Reed Sheppard had a huge game off the bench with 28 points and he tied his career high of six 3-pointers. He also had six assists, three steals and two blocked shots.

Jabari Smith Jr. also excelled by making five treys with 22 points and 10 rebounds.

This will be the second meeting between the Rockets and Kings this season. Houston rolled to a 121-95 victory over Sacramento on Dec. 3 when Alperen Sengun led the charge with 28 points, 10 rebounds and four steals.

Last season, Houston went 0-3 against the Kings.

This season, victories are hard to come by for Sacramento.

The Kings have lost five straight games and 22 of 28 on the season.

Sacramento just lost a home-and-home set to the Portland Trail Blazers, falling 134-133 in overtime in Portland on Thursday and 98-93 at home on Saturday.

"We felt we put ourselves in good position to win each game," Kings forward Keegan Murray said after Saturday's loss. "It's been little moments where they pull away in the second half."

Sacramento was a dismal 6 of 31 from 3-point range (19.4%) on Saturday with the worst offenders being DeMar DeRozan (1 of 6), Russell Westbrook (0 of 5) and Murray (0 of 6).

Murray, in his fourth season, has struggled badly over the past 10 games, hitting just 19.2% from 3-point range (10 of 52).

For the season, he is shooting just 23.9% from behind the arc. He made 41.1 percent as a rookie in 2022-23 and then 35.8% and 34.3% the next two seasons.

"It's a make or miss league," Murray said. "There are times when you're going to miss a lot of shots and be in a funk. Every time I shot it, it felt good. So it's nothing I'm worried about. It's just about finding my rhythm."

Murray scored 15 points in Saturday's loss. Dennis Schroder had a team-high 21 off the bench.

The Kings also learned that they will be without star center Domantas Sabonis (left knee) for an additional four to five weeks. Sabonis has already missed 14 games due to a partially torn meniscus.

Sacramento is just 3-11 since Sabonis got hurt.

-Field Level Media