NEW YORK -- In a season where road wins have been scarce, the Sacramento Kings aren't too concerned about style points when they get one.

The NBA's worst defensive team took advantage of a New York Knicks team that was without leading scorer Carmelo Anthony in the lineup to grind their way to an 88-80 win at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night. The 80 points allowed was a season-low for Sacramento and 29 below their average.

"It was not a stellar basketball game," Kings coach George Karl said. "But for us to get a win on the road is always a happy place. This game had a lot of ugly to it, but it is a win."

In a matchup of two teams out of the playoff picture and facing looming offseason questions, the Kings rode a 24-point, 20-rebound night by DeMarcus Cousins to their 13th road win of the season. Cousins, the NBA's fourth-leading scorer, dropped in seven fourth-quarter points to help put the game away.

The Kings extended a four-point lead at the end of the third quarter to an eight-point advantage to start the fourth, and the Knicks never got closer than five points the rest of the way.

Rudy Gay added 17 points, forward Omri Casspi returned after missing a game with a sore left ankle to chip in 15 points off the bench, and guard Darren Collison contributed 13 points, six assists and three steals for Sacramento (27-42).

Kings point guard Rajon Rondo, a potential free agent target for the Knicks this summer, had a subdued night at Madison Square Garden with six assists and six rebounds to go with just two points.

Center Robin Lopez went toe-to-toe with Cousins to post one of his best games of the season for the Knicks, who were without Anthony due to lingering effects of a migraine. Lopez finished with 23 points and 20 rebounds, rookie Kristaps Porzingis added 13 points and seven rebounds, and Jerian Grant and Derrick Williams combined for 25 off the bench for New York (28-43).

"That was a fun battle," Cousins said about the match-up with Lopez. "You don't really get a chance to see those type of battles with bigs anymore. It's so much of a guard game. We battled for the full game, so it was a lot of fun."

The Knicks dropped to 0-8 this season when Anthony was out of the lineup. They lost their third straight overall. Sacramento swept the two-game season series against the Knicks for the first time since 2009-10, snapping a two-game losing streak in the process.

"When you take Melo out of the scenario, you can be a little more risky (defensively)," Karl said. "Melo not playing tonight was an advantage to us, and we took advantage of it."

A rare hot start propelled the Kings, who never trailed in the game. Sacramento entered the game allowing an NBA-worst 109.6 points per game, but tied their season low for points allowed in a quarter in zooming to a 28-12 lead. It marked just the second time in the past 12 games that the Kings led after the first quarter.

"I thought the emphasis of tonight's game was the start," Karl said. "We're tired of giving up 30-point quarters. The last two games we've given up 35 and 39, or something like that. Tonight our defensive start was good even though the second quarter was shabby."

Playing without Anthony, the Knicks' offense sputtered out of the gate and shot 35 percent from the field overall. New York didn't crack double digits until there was 1:37 left in the first quarter, and it shot 5-for-22 (23 percent) from the field in the opening period as Sacramento built a 16-point lead.

"We had three quarters scoring under 20 points," Knicks interim coach Kurt Rambis said. "To me, guys looked tired."

"It was more our offense than their defense," Porzingis said. "Both teams' effort was there, but we weren't able to score. We weren't able to do it, and it was frustrating."

The Knicks woke up in the second quarter, sparked by eight points off the bench from Grant, who had a team-high 10 at the half. A 14-5 run by New York to end the half trimmed Sacramento's lead to 50-47 at the break. Collison gave the Kings a lift with a game-high 13 points in the half to keep the visitors in front.

NOTES: New York F Carmelo Anthony (team-leading 21.8 points per game) was a game-time scratch due to lingering migraine-like symptoms suffered during Saturday's loss to the Wizards. ... The Knicks activated second-year F Cleanthony Early for the first time since Early was shot in the right kneecap during a robbery outside of a New York City nightclub on Dec. 30. ... Kings rookie C Willie Cauley-Stein missed his second straight game with flu-like symptoms. ... PG Rajon Rondo, who is averaging a career-high 11.9 assists per game for Sacramento, was in his second game back after missing a game with turf toe, a right thumb sprain and a right shoulder contusion.