In the first of consecutive games between the Western Conference foes, Domantas Sabonis leads the Sacramento Kings into Houston to face Jalen Green and the rebuilding Rockets on Monday. The teams will meet again on Wednesday at Toyota Center.
Sabonis, De’Aaron Fox and the rest of the Kings have rapidly risen from a perennially rebuilding squad to a group in third place in the West. That’s a template that Green, Alperen Sengun, and the rest of the Rockets would love to mirror.
To even consider such a dramatic turnaround, though, one of the first steps for the last-place Rockets is to improve defensively. In Saturday’s blowout loss to Oklahoma City, Houston allowed the Thunder to score 153 points, the most of any game in club history.
Last month, the Kings swept the Rockets in consecutive games in Sacramento. Fox, however, was a key difference-maker in both games. It remains to be seen if he will play on Monday, since he missed Sacramento’s game on Sunday in New Orleans (personal reasons).