Once again the Sacramento Kings fell short to an inferior opponent at home in another inconsistent showing for HC Mike Brown's squad. The Houston Rockets simply outplayed the Kings, with 7 different players for H-Town reaching double-digits while completing the season-series sweep over Sacramento.
It was a poor shooting night for the Kings, with the team shooting a horrendous 6-for-32 (18%) from deep. F Keegan Murray and G Kevin Huerter, who are supposed to be the sharpshooters of the team, combined for zero made threes on eight attempts. G De'Aaron Fox tallied on with seven misses of his own from beyond the arc, but managed to see two of his nine attempts fall through the basket.
While the shooting wasn't there for everyone, at least one player showed up to play: C Domantas Sabonis. The Kings' All-Star snub shot over 90% from the field while leading the team in points (25), assists (8), rebounds (15), blocks (2), and steals (3). Unfortunately it wasn't all pretty for Sabonis as he tacked on 9 turnovers to an otherwise dominant performance.
With his 25 and 15 stat line, Sabonis stretched his legendary double-double streak to a whopping 46 games. The streak is now equally as long as Jerry Lucas' franchise record, who accomplished his numbers back in the 1967-68 season. Sabonis also has the longest active streak in the league, with second place having only 12 straight double-doubles.
Sabonis now sits seven double-doubles away from tying Kevin Love's 53-straight, the league record since the NBA/ABA merger in 1976. With that record in sight, the former Gonzaga University star will have a chance to break it before the end of the month.
The last game that Sabonis didn't record a double-double was against the Los Angeles Clippers on November 29th, meaning it has been nearly four months of running the paint. Looking ahead, there's going to be some tough matchups for the Kings' star. The next two games will be against superstar forwards Giannis Antetokounmpo and Anthony Davis, barring any injuries.
With under 20 games to go, it's fair to say that Sabonis should continue to be in MVP conversations. His court presence is unmatched in every facet of the game, demonstrating his well-roundedness night-in and night-out. Currently sitting at 500-to-1 odds, it's fair to say that Domas probably won't win the award, despite continuing to put up record-breaking performances.
The Kings and Sabonis will look to bounce back from a rough home loss and get back to winning ways against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night in Sacramento.
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