Rockets 102, Kings 89: James Harden recorded 26 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and three blocks as Houston downed visiting Sacramento to earn its third straight win.

Isaiah Canaan added a career-high 24 points - including six 3-pointers - for the injury-riddled Rockets, who were playing without Dwight Howard, Patrick Beverley and Terrence Jones. Donatas Motiejunas tallied a personal-best 21 points for Houston, which improved to 3-1 on its current homestand despite going 6-of-15 from the free-throw line.

DeMarcus Cousins notched his eighth straight double-double with 29 points and 17 rebounds for the Kings, who were missing Rudy Gay and Darren Collison. Ben McLemore and Omri Casspi each scored 14 points for Sacramento, which finished with more turnovers (21) than assists (16).

Jason Terry sparked a 15-5 surge to put the Rockets in front 37-19 and they led by as many as 22 before the Kings ended the second quarter with a 7-0 spurt to cut the deficit to 57-50. McLemore knocked down a 3-pointer to pull Sacramento within one before Canaan nailed three triples to give Houston some breathing room at 68-60.

Cousins muscled his way inside to close the gap to four with 6:31 left in the fourth quarter before the Rockets pulled ahead 88-79 after Harden connected from beyond the arc. Harden scored four straight points to push the margin to 95-85 and Houston wasn't troubled the rest of the way.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Rockets have won 12 of the last 16 meetings with the Kings. … Harden went 10-of-31 from the floor, but managed to finish with 24 points or more for the fourth consecutive outing … Houston went 12-of-35 from 3-point land while Sacramento finished 5-of-16.