Dillon Brooks scored a season-high 26 points, Jabari Smith Jr. and Fred VanVleet posted double-doubles and the Houston Rockets beat the visiting Sacramento Kings 107-89 on Saturday.
Brooks led a late surge that included a driving floater and two corner 3-pointers that pushed the lead to 96-82 with 4:28 remaining. Brooks added nine rebounds and almost joined Smith (21 points, 11 rebounds) and VanVleet (21 points, 12 assists) with a double-double. Alperen Sengun chipped in 15 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
Malik Monk led three Sacramento reserves in double figures with 18 points. He added seven assists for the Kings, who were without De’Aaron Fox (ankle) but received 47 points from their bench. Domantas Sabonis paired 11 points with 15 boards for Sacramento, which shot 38.1 percent from the floor.
Houston appeared to wrestle back control when VanVleet fed Smith for a dunk and a 64-55 lead at the 10:09 mark of the third quarter. But the Rockets, who shot 52.4 percent in a win over Charlotte on Wednesday and 54.5 percent in the first half on Saturday, suddenly went cold, and the Kings took advantage.
Sacramento reeled off a 10-0 run while the Rockets missed 12 consecutive shot attempts, seizing its first lead at 65-64 on a 3-pointer by Harrison Barnes with five minutes left in the third.
Houston edged back in front 71-68 by the start of the fourth but didn’t seal the win until Brooks got going.
The Rockets scorched the nets in the first quarter, surging to a 30-15 lead by shooting 12 of 17 from the floor, including 5 of 8 from behind the arc. All five starters had multiple field goals by that juncture, with VanVleet and Sengun totaling 11 points and eight assists during the surge.
But after trailing by as many as 17 points, the Kings rode their reserves back into contention. When backup center JaVale McGee completed his second three-point play in as many possessions at the 9:19 mark of the second quarter, the Kings closed to within 38-33.
Jae’Sean Tate helped the Rockets reclaim a double-digit lead with a pass to a cutting Jalen Green that led to a dunk and a corner 3-pointer off a feed from Sengun, but the Kings fought back and cut that 13-point deficit to 59-53 at the intermission.
Sacramento capped the first half with 30 bench points, including 10 points apiece from McGee and Chris Duarte, to offset a 15-point first half from Smith and eight points and nine assists from VanVleet.
–Field Level Media
