By AP, JPOST.COM STAFFOmri Casspi NBA 248.88 ap(photo credit: AP)
Israel's Omri Casspi scored a career high 17 points but his team the Sacramento Kings lost to the Houston Rockets 113:106 on Saturday night.
Casspi, who also grabbed 8 rebounds, played 37 minutes and shot 6 of 15 from the floor.
The Rockets blew a 15-point, second-quarter lead and had to scrap in the final minutes of the fourth quarter before improving their record in the second game of back-to-backs to 4-0 this season.
The Kings played without rookie Tyreke Evans, who sprained a finger on his right hand diving for a ball in Friday night's 104-102 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. He scored 29 points against the Mavericks and is averaging 18.2 points this season.
The Kings had six players in double figures, led by Spencer Hawes with 24 and Beno Udrih with 18. Trevor Ariza added 19 for the Rockets.
Luis Scola's basket snapped a 101-all tie with 3:41 to play. He followed with two rebounds that helped the Rockets stay ahead.
The Rockets led 59-52 to start the third quarter, but the Kings came out shooting 3-pointers, two to start the period by Donte Greene. Sacramento used an 11-0 spurt midway through the quarter to take its first lead of the game, 71-69 on a basket by Casspi with 5:40 left.
Scola, who finished the game with 22 points, took charge from the beginning, leading the Rockets' strong start with 14 points on 6-for-10 shooting in the first quarter. The Rockets shot 65 percent in the period to open a 33-24 lead.
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