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HOUSTON: John Wall scored 28 points and the Houston Rockets beat the Sacramento Kings, 102-94, on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) despite playing without the injured James Harden.
Harden, who was left out with a sprained right ankle, was not listed on the injury report, and coach Stephen Silas did not mention his injury in his pregame availability. The team announced that it would not play about 38 minutes before the scheduled start of the match.
Wall, who missed Houston’s first two games due to Covid-19 contact tracing, missed all of last season and played just 32 games two years ago due to injuries. He scored 22 points in the Rockets’ debut Thursday following a Washington trade that made him the first player to score 50 points in his first two games after an absence of at least two years since Michael Jordan did so in 2001. , according to the Elías Sports Office.
“I put in a lot of hard work and dedication to get to this point,” Wall said. “I couldn’t ask for a better start at 2-0 in my first two games.”
Silas wasn’t sure what to expect from Wall after being away for a long time. But you have definitely been impressed.
“Whatever expectations he had, he obviously exceeded them,” he said.
The Rockets scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter to extend their lead to 92-81 with approximately 8.5 minutes to go. Eric Gordon led the team on that stretch, making a triple and three free throws.
Sacramento ended a scoring drought of more than 3.5 minutes soon after with a dunk by Richaun Holmes.
Both teams had trouble scoring after that as they combined to miss 10 shots in a row. Gordon finally made a shot for Houston with just under five minutes to go, and Wall added a bucket seconds later to extend the lead to 96-83.
Silas praised his team’s defense on Saturday, saying that without Harden’s scoring prowess, it was even more important to focus on that part of the game.
“We really buckled up and played some defense,” Silas said. “For us to be good, we have to be good on defense. We can’t just get over people. “
The Kings used an 8-2 run, capped by four points from Harrison Barnes, to go 98-91 with less than a minute to go. But Christian Wood responded with a dunk to put the game out of reach.
Harden had started Houston’s first three games this season and is averaging a league-leading 37 points with 11 assists.
De’Aaron Fox had 23 points for the Kings, who lost to the Rockets for the second straight game after winning three of their first four games.
“The guys should feel bad about the loss just like me. Losing is painful, ”said coach Luke Walton. “But they should also feel great about how they are playing as a group.”
He said they stalled offensively in the second half and was particularly disappointed by the lack of assists.
“We only had 11 assists tonight as a team, which is terrible,” he said. “That’s not who we are as a group.”
Wood had 20 points and 16 rebounds and Gordon added 21 points for Houston.
The Kings cut the lead to two points on a triple by Buddy Hield with about 7.5 minutes to go in the third quarter. Wall made four quick points after that to stretch the lead to 79-73.
The Rockets went up seven at the end of the third before Fox scored the last five points of the fourth to cut the deficit to 83-81 going into the fourth.
Suggestions
Kings: Barnes added 19 points with seven rebounds. Hield had 17 points and made five triples. Sacramento made 9 of 28 3s.
Rockets: Sterling Brown had 11 points and six rebounds. Houston made 13 triples.
Until next time
Kings: Sacramento visits Golden State on Monday before playing seven straight home games.
Rockets: Houston hosts Dallas on Monday night and will play four of its next five games at home.
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