subject: NBA – Houston Rockets outplay the Sacramento Kings [print this page] NBA Houston Rockets outplay the Sacramento Kings
Chase Budinger scored 20 points and Kyle Lowry had 19 points, eight assists and seven rebounds as the Houston Rockets took a 123-101 win Monday night against the Sacramento Kings. That was enough for Rick Adelman, the head coach of the Houston Rockets, to win his 935th game in the NBA, tying him with Dick Motta for 10th on the NBA's career victories. To get this into the right perspective you might have to consider that among the top 10 in that list, only Phil Jackson (with great runs with the Bulls and the Lakers) and Red Auerbach, (who made his best run with the Celtics in the 50's and 60's) hold better winning percentages then him. Now, besides being a significant win for Adelman, it was an important confident booster for the Houston Rockets. With a 33-32 regular season, the Rocket's haven't been at their finest, and yet, they sure enough are trying to turn the season around. Houston has won two straight games, seven of the last eight, and moved over the .500 mark for the first time all season in this valid and desperate run for a playoff berth. The Sacramento Kings are on the other side of the spectrum. At 15-46 for the regular season and 8-24 on home games, the Kings are in a serious need of a lift off. There is really nothing this crew can do this season to get into the playoffs, but things could certainly get brighter next year. For starters, DeMarcus Cousins had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Kings. For instance, there are many who believe that Cousins could really turn out to be one heck of the player. He has the all the talent you could wish for, but there are still many issues concerning his maturity and his concentration that could keep him from exploiting all his potential. DeMarcus Cousins has had a brilliant start in March, completing his third double-double in as many games. Still, that was not enough to keep the Sacramento Kings from losing their third straight and fifth in six games. It was certainly not a bomb-proof second half for Cousins. This doesn't mean he had a bad game, au contraire; he dominated the paint offensively in the opening half when he scored 20 points. But then it all went south. The rookie center missed all five second-half shots, had zero points, and left the game in the fourth quarter after taking a hard hit. He didn't come back but in the press conference team officials said that the injury was minor. Marcus Thornton had 16 points, Beno Udrih added 15, and Francisco Garcia scored 11 for the Kings. For the Rockets, Courtney Lee scored 19 points and Martin had 15 for the Rockets, who shot 53 percent. Lowry scored 11 points and Luis Scola had 10 for the Rockets, who used a 36-28 second quarter to go into the half with a 65-58 lead. The Houston Rockets will now have to face the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday before hosting quite an important and difficult game against the best team in the league, the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday. On the other hand, the Sacramento Kings will play the Orlando Magic on Wednesday and then also face the Spurs on Friday on a very difficult on-the-road game.
