The Sacramento Kings couldn’t overcome a huge third quarter by the Houston Rockets, losing 132-112. The final score doesn’t really do the game justice, as it felt like an even bigger loss.

The first quarter featured a good back and forth matchup between both teams. The Houston Rockets took an early lead, then the Kings came back and took the lead. Then Houston took a 23-14 lead, which the Kings fought back into as well. How about the ball movement between De’Aaron Fox, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Marvin Bagley who finished with a dunk? That was fancy. Fox in general dominated that quarter and Bogi’s contribution off the bench was crucial. Yogi Ferrell also got some early action but the Rockets still had a lead at the end of one.

The Rockets dominated the entirety of the second quarter but the Kings did their best to keep it close. Houston took multiple double-digit leads en route to another 35+ point quarter. Houston started dropping threes and Chris Paul caught fire. James Harden on the other hand ended the half 0-4 from deep, but got his free throws. Clint Capela dominated the paint, Willie Cauley-Stein struggled. Cauley-Stein ended the half with two points. Fox, Bogi and Buddy Hield kept the Kings in the game in the first half, with all in double-digit points numbers at the end of the first half. Nemanja Bjelica played six minutes in the first half and didn’t contribute anything (The Bjelica Effect).

The game was blown wide open in the third quarter, with the Rockets scoring 38 points. The Carmelo Anthony effect for them has been insane as they also poured on three-after-three-after-three, you get the point. Bagley finished the quarter with 14 points and Hield went up to 23 points. Frank Mason passed up another wide open three and blew the lay-up, which he still hasn’t figured out. Harden and Gerald Green started to make threes and made this a 20-point game.

Nothing eventful happened in the fourth. James Harden played until two minutes remaining and Clint Capela played a considerable amount of time in the fourth while the Kings played all of their backups. The game ended 132-112.

Best Players

De’Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield and Bogdan Bogdanovic were all great in the backcourt but Bogdanovic’s minute restriction came into play as well. They all scored over 14 points.

Marvin Bagley scored 16 on 7-10 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds. He also had a nice reverse dunk.

Willie Money Watch

He was not good tonight. Not good at all. He was outplayed by Capela in almost every single way and didn’t do anything good to help the team.

Notable Stats

The Rockets made 20 threes.

The Kings were 9-12 at the line, which isn’t terrible but they need to get to the line more often.

The Kings had 64 points in the paint, but with the Rockets raining from three, it didn’t matter.

The Game in a Few Sentences

The biggest takeaway from tonight is the story revolving Dave Joerger and the front office. The Kings are 8-8 and there’s already reports suggesting Joerger could be dismissed as the head coach.

Next Game

The Kings play the Oklahoma City Thunder at home on Monday at 7:00 PM PST.