Rivers, Harden torch hapless Kings

It was easy to imagine that the Rockets would look good with two full days of rest coming off their win against the Lakers, but it might have been pushing it to pushing it to assume they'd look this good.

Houston was firing on all cylinders on Sunday evening, cruising to a blowout victory over the Sacramento Kings by a score of ___

Contrary to the score, the Rockets actually got off to a pretty slow start to begin the game. Sacramento jumped out to an early 16-7 lead in the first quarter, which eventually ballooned to 21-9 with four and a half minutes left in the period. Bogdan Bogdanovic and Buddy Hield both had five each during their quick stretch.

The Rockets, without Russell Westbrook on the night, found themselves down 36-23 after the end of the first quarter. The Kings were quick to capitalize off of sloppy mistakes from Houston; they scored eleven of points off of six Houston turnovers.

It helped that they were hot from the floor to start the game as well -- Sacramento shot 65% to start the game, led by Buddy Hield's eleven points on 4-4 shooting.

A big reason why the Rockets were able to survive the run relatively unscathed was due in large part to Austin Rivers, who led the Rockets with eight in the first quarter, in addition to serving as Harden's second fiddle as well as the bench leader.

Rivers, along with Harden, would right the ship in the second quarter, leading Houston on a 12-3 to give them a 52-50 lead in the middle of the second quarter. Harden and Rivers would combine for 21 points total in the second quarter to give Houston a 61-56 lead going into halftime.

Rivers led all scorers at the halfway mark with 19 points (7/8 from the field, 4/5 from three), to go along with three boards and three assists.

Houston as a team picked things up in the second half -- Houston actually managed to outrebound the Kings 22-18 in the first half, which mitigated for the slightly below-average shooting percentage from three (34.4%). They also reversed the points off turnover issue, scoring eleven points off of turnovers in the second quarter.

The Rockets would keep the momentum going with a 32-15 third quarter surge that put the Rockets up 93-71. Harden would pass Bob Pettit on the all-time scoring list during the run, jumping to 38th on the list.

It would be much of the same in the fourth quarter, as Austin Rivers assumed most of the offense and took over for Houston. His torrid shooting would continue, pushing him to his first 30 point game as a Rocket.

He wouldn't stop there, however, as a pair of free throws late in the fourth quarter gave Rivers 41 points on the game, a new career high.

Rivers would end the game as the contest's leading scorer, shooting an efficient 14-20 (70%) on the night to go along with six rebounds and four assists. James Harden would drop 32 points (10-21), eight rebounds, and seven assists. Houston native De'Aaron Fox led the way for the Kings with 26 points.

The Rockets improve to 44-25 on the season, and 4-1 in the bubble, while Sacramento was eliminated from playoff contention with a Portland win today. Houston's next opponent will be against the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday afternoon, kicking off their first and only back-to-back in the bubble.