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Rockets continue road trip at Kings

Apr 1, 2008 - 2:01 PM Houston (49-24) at Sacramento (33-40) 10:00 pm EDT

SACRAMENTO, California (Ticker) - The Houston Rockets continue on their five-game road trip when they visit the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday.

Houston dropped the first game of the trip at San Antonio, 109-88, on Sunday and the Rockets are now just 3-4 since their amazing 22-game winning streak.

Luis Scola scored 22 points in the loss, while leading scorer Tracy McGrady had just 13 on 5-of-22 shooting.

In the competitive Western Conference, Houston (49-24) is in sixth place but are only 1 1/2 games behind New Orleans (50-22) and San Antonio (51-23) for first place in the standings.

The Kings had lost four out of their last five before posting a 120-107 victory at Seattle on Sunday.

Kevin Martin scored 31 points for his fifth 30-point game in the month of March, where he averaged 26.3 points per game.

Ron Artest added 29 points and 12 rebounds for the Kings, who matched last season's win total but are still nowhere close to making the playoffs in the West. The modest success of the team has Artest looking to next season.

"We have one of the best defensive players to ever play the game in myself," Artest said. "We have Brad (Miller) and Kevin, up and coming first- and second-team All-NBA guys, and we have some good point guards, so it's a failure that we didn't make the playoffs.

"It hurts but, at the same time, we'll get ready for next year. Next year will be our year."