Rockets becoming dependent on guard Lowry

There was only one acceptable answer to the question but it nevertheless felt necessary to fire it at Rockets point guard Kyle Lowry. The Rockets appear on the brink of being overly reliant on Lowry, with their performance ebbing and flowing in conjunction with his presence on the court. That condition was blatantly obvious on Friday night, and after playing Lowry 41 minutes against the Kings, Rockets coach Kevin McHale lamented that workload despite not having much of a choice. Lowry entered the game averaging a team-high 35.1 minutes per game. How long can he maintain this pace, particularly in a truncated season? "As of right now I like to play the game," Lowry said. "As long as I keep going and take care of my body the way that I do, I think I can do it every night. If I've got to play every minute every night or play this amount of minutes every night to win games, that's what I'll do until I can't do it anymore." McHale can only hope to avoid that scenario. Lowry carried the Rockets through a critical stretch in the third quarter and revived them as things went sideways in the fourth, securing a 103-89 victory at Toyota Center. With momentum swinging back and forth, Lowry provided the stability the Rockets (4-7) sought, scoring nine of his team-high 25 points over the final half of the third. He opened the fourth with a basket and a defensive rebound that led to a Patrick Patterson jumper and an 87-72 lead. He took a seat on the bench, watched the Kings (4-8) cut the lead to nine points, quickly reentered and hit a 3-pointer that restored order. Lowry added nine assists and seven rebounds to his stat line. These performances have become routine. Eventually Lowry will garner national attention for his individual exploits, but the Rockets would be better served if someone provided the same reliability Lowry delivers game after game. Their bench was substandard once again, and despite his emergence, Lowry should not be required to shoulder this load. "I don't want to have to play Kyle 41 minutes," McHale said. "There's no question about that; that's too much. Tonight was one of those nights where it seemed like when he wasn't on the floor things were not going very smoothly for us." The Rockets built a 24-14 lead on Chandler Parsons' layup with 3:34 left in the first quarter only for their bench to surrender a 14-2 run that closed the period. The Kings' bench outscored the Rockets 42-12, shot 50 percent from the floor and recorded eight assists against only four turnovers. Their dominance fed a flurry of perimeter jumpers and transition baskets that helped the Kings to a 52-50 halftime lead. Before Lowry sealed the deal, Rockets center Samuel Dalembert dominated his matchup with his former pupil, Kings second-year center DeMarcus Cousins. The Rockets controlled the boards and outrebounded the Kings 55-36, with Dalembert and Luis Scola combining for 27 rebounds. Cousins, who entered the game third in the NBA in rebounding rate at 21.5 percent, finished with four rebounds. Dalembert exerted his authority in means beyond rebounding. He scored a season-high 21 points and blocked a season-high-tying four shots. Cousins missed six of his seven shots, finished with four points and, after picking up his fourth foul with 7:10 remaining in the third quarter, watched the rest of the game from the bench. "What it is was not letting him (Cousins) get comfortable," Dalembert said. "Any real good players and any guys that get a lot of touches in a game, you don't want them to start (going). He's a willing passer on the post and I didn't want him to start getting the ball and creating things for them and make it tough. I denied him a little bit and he wasn't hitting shots, and that helped us a lot too." The Rockets have come to expect rebounding and defense from Dalembert. His offense was a significant plus, particularly on a night when Lowry did everything necessary to finish off the Kings. Given how much is being asked of Lowry on a nightly basis, Dalembert picked a fine time to deliver the unexpected. It was needed and greatly appreciated. "He was possessed or something. I don't know," Lowry said. "He played like he always talks. He really looked like his old Sam Dalembert back in the 76ers days. Tonight was a big stepping stone for him, and now he just has to be more consistent and do this every night." Said Dalembert: "I told the guys today that I need to start showing some presence because Scola is really the only one inside whose presence is doing a lot for us. As I watched the game and saw how they were denying him a lot and he wasn't able to get the ball and do his thing, I said, 'Hey, I've got to be a presence offensively.' I'm counting on keep doing that." Follow me on Twitter at moisekapenda