HOUSTON -- Tuesday night in Texas was looking and feeling like Monday night in Memphis, Tenn.

Not only to those watching it, but to the Kings as well.

That certainly was not encouraging for Sacramento, since it had allowed an undermanned Grizzlies squad to sneak away with a victory at the Pyramid.

And although the Kings looked every bit as vulnerable against a Houston team playing without its injured starting backcourt of Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley, they wormed their way out of the Compaq Center with an 89-84 win.

Sacramento (11-4) had lost four of its last five road games, and coach Rick Adelman was not particularly excited about the possibility of two losses heading into back-to-back games Thursday at Dallas and Friday at San Antonio.

Moreover, looming after this trip are home games against Dallas, Philadelphia and the Los Angeles Lakers.

"I feel a lot better (Tuesday night) than I did (Monday night)," Adelman said. "Give Houston credit. Moochie Norris was aggressive in the second half, and (forward Kenny) Thomas was terrific all night. They were playing hard, and we were on the road. Fortunately, we were able to do a little bit better (Tuesday night)."