John Wall leads Houston Rockets over Kings while James Harden sits out with ankle injury
The Houston Rockets didn’t have James Harden in Saturday’s game against the Kings, but they still had John Wall.
Wall was back in action less than 48 hours after making his return to the NBA, scoring 28 points to lead the Rockets to a 102-94 victory over the Kings at Toyota Center in Houston. Wall, who made his season debut Thursday after a two-year injury absence, added six assists, four rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots.
Christian Wood posted 20 points, 15 rebounds and four blocked shots for the Rockets (2-2). Eric Gordon scored 19. DeMarcus Cousins was held to two points on 1-of-6 shooting in his second game for Houston.
De’Aaron Fox scored 23 points on 8-of-19 shooting for the Kings (3-3). He had four assists and three turnovers.
Harrison Barnes had 19 points and seven rebounds. Buddy Hield added 17 points, making five 3-pointers.
The Rockets were missing Harden, who was ruled out shortly before tipoff with a sprained right ankle. The Kings were missing rookie standout Tyrese Haliburton, who sustained a left wrist bone bruise in Thursday’s 122-119 loss to the Rockets.
The impact of Haliburton’s absence was clear as Sacramento’s offense stalled out at times without the young playmaker. The Kings shared the ball beautifully while going 3-1 to start the season, but the ball movement wasn’t good Saturday with only 11 assists on 35 made baskets.
“Tyrese is a connector,” Barnes said. “His ability to come into the game and fill the gaps and his playmaking is huge for us.”
Kings coach Luke Walton said his team didn’t make the necessary adjustments against Houston’s switching defense.
“That ball has got to move,” Walton said. “Switching is put in there to stall a team out if you turn it into a 1-on-1 game, so we’ve got to get better at moving and executing if teams are going to do that to us.”
The Kings and Rockets traded leads throughout a high-scoring first half that ended with the team’s tied at 64. Both teams shot over 50%. The Kings amassed a 24-18 rebounding advantage and outscored the Rockets 32-22 on points in the paint.
Baskets by Gordon, Wall and P.J. Tucker helped the Rockets open up a seven-point lead in the third quarter. A late flourish by Fox allowed the Kings to cut the deficit to two, but the Rockets responded with a 9-0 run with Fox on the bench to start the fourth quarter.
The Rockets went up by 11 on three free throws by Gordon after Bagley fouled him on a long 3-point attempt. They extended the lead to 13 on a basket by Wall and had little trouble closing out the Kings.
Haliburton injury update
Haliburton missed the game with a bone bruise in his left wrist after taking a hard fall on a dunk attempt against the Rockets on Thursday.
Walton said Haliburton, the No. 12 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, will also miss Monday’s game against the Golden State Warriors. Walton said Haliburton will be reevaluated when the team returns to Sacramento.
“He got tests done yesterday,” Walton said. “All came back negative, but he’s pretty sore and can’t really move very well right now, so we’re going to shelve him for the next two games and hopefully we’ll get a much clearer understanding when we get back to Sacramento.”
Bone bruises can take weeks or months to heal. The injury occurred to the same wrist Haliburton broke last season at Iowa State.
Haliburton averaged 10.6 points, 4.4 assists, 2.0 rebounds and 1.0 steals over his first four games, garnering national attention as an early Rookie of the Year candidate.
Harden ruled out
Harden injured his right ankle late in Thursday’s game against the Kings, but his name did not appear on the team’s injury report. He tested the ankle in warm-ups before being ruled out about 30 minutes before the game.
Harden led the NBA in scoring for the third year in a row in 2019-20, averaging 34.3 points per game. He is averaging 37.0 points, 11.0 assists and 5.3 assists this season.
Up next
The Kings will conclude a three-game road trip when they visit the Golden State Warriors on Monday. They will then return to Sacramento to start a seven-game homestand against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday at Golden 1 Center.
The Warriors went 2-3 over their first five games. They posted wins over the Bulls and Detroit Pistons and suffered losses to the Brooklyn Nets, Milwaukee Bucks and Portland Trail Blazers.
Two-time MVP Stephen Curry is averaging 26.4 points, 6.6 assists and 4.6 rebounds. Rookie James Wiseman, the No. 2 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, is averaging 11.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.6 blocks.
Upcoming Kings schedule
Jan. 4 at Golden State Warriors, 7 p.m.
Jan. 6 vs. Chicago Bulls, 7 p.m.
Jan. 8 vs. Toronto Raptors, 7 p.m.
Jan. 9 vs. Portland Trail Blazers, 7 p.m.
Jan. 11 vs. Indiana Pacers, 7 p.m.
Injury report
Kings: OUT — Tyrese Haliburton (wrist); DaQuan Jeffries (ankle).
Rockets: PROBABLE — Eric Gordon (knee). OUT — Chris Clemons (Achilles); Mason Jones (ankle); Kenyon Martin Jr. (self isolating); Ben McLemore (self isolating).
This story was originally published January 2, 2021 at 4:52 PM.
