Fresh off sweeping a Texas team, the Kings are swept by another Lone Star State club
The Kings returned from a five-game trip fresh off completing the franchise’s first sweep of one Texas team in the San Antonio Spurs.
In their third-to-last home game of the season, they fell victim to a sweep at the hands of another squad from the Lone Star State.
The Kings fell 130-105 to the Houston Rockets on Tuesday night at Golden 1 Center. It was the second time in three seasons that Sacramento lost all four games in the season series.
Buddy Hield scored 20 points to lead the Kings (38-40), who found out before the game they will be without rookie big man Harry Giles III for their final five contests. MVP candidate James Harden had 36 points and 10 assists for the Rockets (50-28), who tied an NBA single-game team record with 26 made 3-pointers.
“It’s tough to guard – they’re great players,” Kings coach Dave Joerger said of the Rockets’ shooting from outside the arc. “They have an MVP in James Harden and so you’re going to have to commit to the basketball at different times and they do a good job of spreading it around. ... We struggled. Part of that is a lack of experience, but we’ve got to go harder than that and try to make up for some of those things.”
The Kings have been swept by eight teams this season, including Western Conference foes Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers. The average margin of victory for the Rockets (20.5 points) is much higher than the other teams.
“Our seventh-, eighth- and ninth-worst performances have been against Houston,” Joerger said before Tuesday’s game. “We’ve struggled to guard them, so that’s why the scores look so lopsided. They can score ... but you have to score against them to put some pressure on their offense.”
The teams met Saturday in Houston and a 119-108 loss eliminated the Kings from playoff contention. On Tuesday, the Rockets led by as many as 30 in going wire to wire for the win.
“I just think our energy was bad, that’s all I can say,” Hield said. “They’re a good team, but our energy was bad and everyone was looking like they wanted the season to be done with. We have to do a better job finishing, closing out and competing.”
This story was originally published April 2, 2019 at 9:25 PM.