Dillon Brooks scored 12 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Houston Rockets to a 107-89 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Saturday night.
It’s the Rockets’ second straight win after opening the season 0-3.
A 3-point basket by Malik Monk got the Kings within three points with about 8 1/2 minutes left. The Rockets then went on a 10-2 run, with six points from Brooks, to extend the lead to 90-79 midway through the period.
Monk made a layup after that, but Brooks made a 3-pointer seconds later to extend Houston’s lead. Harrison Barnes made one of two free throws for Sacramento before Brooks struck again, hitting another 3-pointer to make it 96-82 with 4 1/2 minutes left.
He blew a kiss to the crowd before running onto the field to play defense.
Monk scored 18 points off the bench to lead the Kings with star De’Aaron Fox out for a second straight game with a sprained right ankle. Domantas Sabonis had 11 points with a team-high 15 rebounds, and Harrison Barnes added 13 points for Sacramento.
Fred VanVleet scored 21 points with 12 assists and Jabari Smith Jr. also had 21 points with 11 rebounds for the Rockets.
Houston led by 17 in the first half. But the Kings used a 10-0 run capped by a 3 from Barnes to take a 65-64 lead and take their first lead of the game with five minutes left in the third quarter. Houston committed three turnovers during this stretch.
Neither team could score for the next two minutes until VanVleet made a layup with about three minutes left in the third to end a Rockets drought of more than seven minutes.
That bucket was the start of a 7-0 run that left Houston up 71-65. But Monk made a 3-pointer in the final seconds of the quarter to cut the lead to 71-68 early in the fourth.
The Rockets were without rookie Amen Thompson, who sprained his right ankle Thursday night.
FOLLOWING
The teams meet in Houston Monday evening.
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