Rockets vs. Kings Takeaways: Fourth Quarter Collapse, Playing Through Sengun, A New Lineup
The Houston Rockets (10-31) began their four-game west coast road trip in a 135-115 loss to the Sacramento Kings (22-18) inside the Golden 1 Center. With the Rockets extending their losing streak to eight, here are three takeaways from their latest disappointing loss.
Lack of late-game execution:
The Rockets were a little over eight minutes away from beginning their California road trip with a victory. They held a 101-100 lead with 8 minutes and 28 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
The Rockets gave up an offensive rebound to Trey Lyles, who scored on a put-back attempt following Terence Davis' missed 3-point field goal. Lyles' bucket led to the Kings outscoring the Rockets 33-15 the rest of the night.
"It was a combination of missing open shots and not doing what we needed to do on the defensive end," coach Stephen Silas said. "[Domantas] Sabonis was a hard matchup for us...we got to figure out a way to close out these games."
Despite the team missing nine of their final 14 shot attempts, Silas said Houston's fourth-quarter struggles were due to their horrific performance on the defensive end.
Houston's defense allowed Sacramento to score 41 points during the final period. The Kings shot 66.7 percent from the field while connecting on six of their nine 3-point field goal attempts.
Sabonis gave the Rockets problems for most of the night, but De'Aaron Fox ignited Sacramento's fourth-quarter comeback. He scored seven of his 24 points during the period and recorded four assists.
Playing through Alperen Sengun:
Alperen Sengun recorded his first career triple-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
Sengun took over as Houston's primary facilitator in the absence of Kevin Porter Jr. due to an injury. Whether he was in the post or at the top of the key, Sengun took on a past-first mentality that helped the Rockets finish the night with 30 assists.
"He did a good job making plays for his teammates," Silas said. "When Alperen plays like that, where the ball moving, it's good for our group. We just have to do a better job on defense."
Silas said his players played better off ball when Sengun orchestrated the offense from the top of the key. He said the off-ball action that took place with Sengun was strategize during Tuesday's practice.
A new promising lineup:
Kevin Porter Jr. exited the game at the 1:42 mark of the first quarter. He sustained a left foot contusion after a collision with Jae'Sean Tate and Kings forward Malik Monk, and Porter's absence led to a shake-up within Silas' rotation.
Silas started K.J. Martin during the second half, which allowed him to end the third quarter with a lineup that featured Tate, Tari Eason, Bruno Fernando, Jalen Green, and Garrison Mathews.
The lineup recorded 11 points and six rebounds in the three minutes they played together to end the quarter. Their performance on both ends led to the Rockets entering the final period holding a 95-94 lead.
Best performance:
Despite Jalen Green's 26-point performance and Alperen Sengun's triple-double, K.J. Martin deserved the honor as the Rockets' best player. He finished with 21 points (9-13 FG, 3-7 3PT) and six rebounds in the loss.
Martin provided an instant spark off the bench early in the first quarter and maintained his play on both ends Wednesday night.
Worst performance:
No one. Every player who stepped on the court contributed to the Rockets staying within striking distance until the final eight minutes of the game.
Final Words:
"I think our shot quality was decent. There were times when I thought we went off and did our own thing. But for the most part, we got to figure out a way to close out these games." — Stephen Silas
You can follow Coty M. Davis on Twitter at @CotyDavis_24
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