Lodging Issue Proved Costly for Rockets During Kings Defeat

On Sunday night, the Houston Rockets squared off against the Sacramento Kings with revenge on the line.

The Rockets sought an opportunity to avenge a disappointment of a game last month.

Houston faced a daunting, disastrous loss in December, on a night that they led by 14 points in the fourth quarter.

Sacramento walked them down, nabbing a victory in overtime.

This time around, Dennis Schröder, the former Rockets guard who hit the game-winning shot, was out of action due to suspension.

The Rockets trotted out a starting lineup of Aaron Holiday, Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr., Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun, as Sengun made his first game back from an ankle injury that forced him to miss three games.

(And practically four, as he went down just one minute into Houston's game against the Dallas Mavericks).

The Rockets came out flat, shooting 5-of-18 from deep in the first half. The second half wasn't much better, as they shot 2-of-12 from deep.

The Rockets, a team that dominates on the glass (on most nights when they win), were outhustled by the Kings 45-44 -- a surprising development for a Kings team that averaged just 30 rebounds per night entering the game and 10 offensive rebounds per game.

Sacramento grabbed 18 offensive rebounds to Houston's 19.

Houston lost 111-98.

The Rockets fell flat.

As it turns out, Houston had a relatively unusually long day, as they were forced to travel from San Francisco to Sacramento on the day of the game.

Which is about a hair under 100 miles.

The Rockets were unable to successfully book the hotel of their choice in Sacramento, as both the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks had reserved each of the rooms.

One would surmise that an NBA team could simply book a hotel anywhere, right? Maybe at a Holiday Inn or Hilton?

Not quite, as explained by John Hollinger of The Athletic.

"The Rockets couldn’t just stay someplace else? Maybe in theory, but not in practice. You can’t really stay at the La Quinta Inn with an NBA team. In most of the league’s mid-size-to-small markets, only one or two hotels are plausible options for an NBA team’s traveling party. Among the factors to consider: lots of suites; extra long beds; conference rooms and other facilities for team meetings and meals; having enough rooms for an entire party (often 50 or more people with players, coaches, staff, announcers and execs); and the ability to do “team travel” contracts with provisions like 5:30 p.m. PT checkout times (normally when the last bus leaves the hotel for a 7 p.m. game)."

This is certainly not why the Rockets couldn't beat the lowly Kings. They had ample chances to win the game.

And they shouldn't struggle with teams of that caliber (although they have all season).

But it is interesting to note.