Player grades from Rockets’ dominant win over the Sacramento Kings

B. Harden looked right at home as he ran the show without Russell Westbrook, who sat to rest a bruised quad. Harden had an average night by his standards, which means he dropped a casual 32 points to go along with 7 assists, 8 rebounds, and 3 steals. It must be nice when an average night is basically Ice Cube messing around on a Good Day. Harden misses out on an A because of his poor three-point shooting (4-12) and his team-high 4 turnovers.. Guard. Houston Rockets. JAMES HARDEN

B +. It remains to be seen when Covington will find his stroke from three-point range (1-5) but he was incredibly efficient on his two-point chances (4-5). Besides his waywardness from deep Covington had a fantastic game as he anchored the league’s most surprising defense and collected a team-high 13 rebounds. Those boards were huge for the Rockets who won the rebounding battle for the first time in months over the Kings (48-41) and limited them to only 5 offensive boards.. Forward. Houston Rockets. ROBERT COVINGTON

Guard. Houston Rockets. BEN MCLEMORE. A. Does Ben McLemore steal Steph Curry’s three-point shooting prowess in Space-Jam 2 because he has been on absolute fire from deep. His 6-14 from three-point range somehow is a step down from some of his previous outings but was a must on a night where only two Rockets shot better than 25% from distance (minimum 3 attempts).  While McLemore’s shooting has been hot all Summer he finally got his foul troubles under control as he only committed 2 fouls in 22 minutes of court time.

C. PJ Tucker could not buy a bucket against the Kings. He missed every shot from the field and his single point came when he split a pair of free throws. Despite Tucker’s offensive struggles he still played with his usual defensive intensity and did the dirty work that perimeter-oriented teams tend to struggle with. Tucker plays his role but against good competition a poor shooting night could tank the Rockets’ chances, fortunately, the Kings are not good competition.. Forward. Houston Rockets. P.J. TUCKER

Houston Rockets. DANUEL HOUSE. D. Danuel House hopefully thanked each of his teammates at the end of the game for cruising to victory in spite of his poor play. He missed all five of his three-pointers and only scored two points. He paired his two assists with two turnovers, which is unacceptable from a player with such a low creative burden. House picked a good game to be off but the Rockets cannot afford for him to start making a habit of it.. Small Forward