The Sacramento Kings jogged. The Rockets ran with everything they had, straining to keep pace. And for a few minutes, they might have felt like they were in the race. They weren't. The Kings were able to blow past whenever the mood struck and eventually settled for a 110-87 trot past the Rockets on Tuesday night before 17,317 at Arco Arena.

The loss was the Rockets' 10th in their past 11 meetings with the Kings and gave them a three-game losing streak since their season-best three-game winning streak last week.

It also severely dented their hopes of measuring up to the Western Conference powers on the road trip, particularly when also considering their 36-point loss on their previous trip to Sacramento.