Sacramento Kings – Houston Rockets · NBA

Win probability changed during the game. · 9 December 2019

SAC119–118HOU

Is it worth watching?

Highly recommended

It was more exciting than 91% of NBA games since 2017

· It was still open in the final minutes

It measures how much the win probability moved during the game —without looking at who won or at the score— and compares it with the 10,950 NBA games with a curve since 2017. “Highly recommended” is the most intense 20%, “recommended” runs from 50% to 80%, and “skippable” is the rest. Source: ESPN.

↑ HOU winsSAC wins ↓

Home team's win probability across the game (source: ESPN). The band rises when HOU leads and falls when SAC does.

This is how the game was decided.

Buddy Hield decided it, the Sacramento Kings player with the most points (26, with 4 rebounds and 3 assists; +14 with him on the floor). The criterion: the winner's points in the box score; plus-minus says who was on the floor when the game opened up.

The game-winner in Houston Rockets 118-119 Sacramento Kings (December 9, 2019) was hit by Nemanja Bjelica: a three-pointer with 0.0 s left in the fourth quarter, putting the Sacramento Kings up 119-118. They never trailed again.

The biggest run of Houston Rockets 118-119 Sacramento Kings (December 9, 2019) was a 8-0 run by the Houston Rockets in the second quarter (from 6:13 to 4:56), from 46-43 to 54-43. The Sacramento Kings' best was a 8-0 run in the first quarter (from 6:56 to 5:40), from 10-10 to 18-10.

▸See where these figures come from

Play: Nemanja Bjelica makes 33-foot three point jumper (Cory Joseph assists).

I count as the game-winner the basket that puts the winning team ahead for good. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

A run here is consecutive points by one team without the opponent scoring. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

Source: the game's official box score and play-by-play.

Nemanja Bjelica decided this game: his points put his team ahead at the buzzer of the fourth quarter, and the opponent never led again.

It is the only game he has decided this way in the NBA since the 2002-03 season.

His profile shows the games Bjelica decided

▸See where these figures come from

A game is decided by the last basket that puts a team ahead in the final ten seconds of the fourth quarter or of an overtime, if that team wins.

9 December 2019 · The source is the ESPN play-by-play, play espn:401160988:645; the date is the one on the NBA box score.

Rotations · who was on the floor

Closing lineup · SAC

Joseph · Barnes · Hield · Bjelica · Bogdanovic

Closing lineup · HOU

Harden · Capela · Westbrook · Tucker · House

Q1Q2Q3Q4

SAC

Cory Joseph

38′ · +5

Richaun Holmes

36′ · +3

Harrison Barnes

33′ · +7

Buddy Hield

33′ · +14

Nemanja Bjelica

30′ · -7

Bogdan Bogdanovic

32′ · -5

Trevor Ariza

26′ · 0

Yogi Ferrell

11′ · -12

HOU

James Harden

40′ · -6

Clint Capela

37′ · -1

Russell Westbrook

36′ · +1

P.J. Tucker

35′ · -3

Danuel House Jr.

34′ · -19

Ben McLemore

33′ · +14

Gary Clark

22′ · +6

Chris Clemons

4′ · +3

Each bar is a stint on the floor (source: NBA). The number is minutes played and the team's +/− with him on the court. SAC and HOU.

These lineups played the most minutes together.

Sacramento Kings

Holmes, Hield, Bjelica, Joseph, and Barnes played 12.9 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 13 points.
Ferrell, Bjelica, Barnes, Bogdanovic, and Ariza played 7.1 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 6 points.
Holmes, Hield, Joseph, Barnes, and Bogdanovic played 6.8 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 7 points.

Houston Rockets

House, Tucker, Westbrook, Harden, and Capela played 14.5 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 15 points.
House, Clark, Westbrook, McLemore, and Capela played 8.1 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 5 points.
House, Tucker, Harden, McLemore, and Capela played 5.9 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 5 points.

▸See every lineup of the game

Sacramento Kings

Holmes, Hield, Joseph, Bogdanovic, and Ariza played 6.4 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 12 points.
Holmes, Joseph, Barnes, Bogdanovic, and Ariza played 3.6 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 5 points.
Holmes, Bjelica, Joseph, Bogdanovic, and Ariza played 2.7 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 3 points.
Holmes, Hield, Bjelica, Joseph, and Bogdanovic played 2.7 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 8 points.
Hield, Joseph, Barnes, Bogdanovic, and Ariza played 1.6 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 8 points.
Hield, Ferrell, Bjelica, Barnes, and Ariza played 1.6 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 1 point.
Hield, Ferrell, Bjelica, Joseph, and Ariza played 1.4 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 8 points.
Holmes, Ferrell, Bjelica, Bogdanovic, and Ariza played 1.4 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 1 point.

Houston Rockets

Tucker, Westbrook, Harden, McLemore, and Capela played 5.1 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 11 points.
Clark, Tucker, Harden, McLemore, and Capela played 3.0 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 3 points.
Clark, Clemons, Westbrook, Harden, and McLemore played 3.0 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 3 points.
Clark, Tucker, Westbrook, Harden, and McLemore played 2.7 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 1 point.
House, Clark, Tucker, Harden, and McLemore played 2.5 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.
House, Clark, Westbrook, Harden, and McLemore played 1.7 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 6 points.
House, Tucker, Westbrook, Harden, and McLemore played 1.0 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 2 points.

▸See where these figures come from

The lineups come from the NBA's official rotation: who was on the floor and when. Each lineup's plus-minus is worked out from every player's stints and is only shown when they all add up with each other and with the final score.

Cory Joseph covered 4.49 km, more than anyone in the game.

James Harden touched the ball 85 times, a game high.
Cory Joseph made 62 passes, a game high.
Richaun Holmes defended 11 shots at the rim, a game high, and opponents made 6.
P.J. Tucker had 25 rebound chances, a game high.

▸See what was measured for each player

Sacramento Kings

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Cory Joseph	4.49	6.6	75	62
Buddy Hield	4.39	7.4	67	45
Richaun Holmes	4.30	6.6	48	36
Harrison Barnes	4.14	6.8	47	27
Bogdan Bogdanović	4.02	6.9	54	41
Nemanja Bjelica	3.46	6.6	72	51
Trevor Ariza	2.91	6.3	44	34
Yogi Ferrell	1.46	7.2	36	27

Houston Rockets

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
P.J. Tucker	4.18	6.7	51	39
Clint Capela	4.18	6.5	55	42
Russell Westbrook	4.14	6.3	76	48
Danuel House Jr.	4.10	6.8	37	23
Ben McLemore	4.04	6.7	45

The figures come from the NBA's optical tracking (NBA.com) for this game; speed is each player's average while on the floor.

Who stood out on defense during the season

These figures cover the whole 2019-20 regular season, not this game.

Sacramento Kings

Trevor Ariza deflected 2.8 passes per game over his 53 games.
He ranks 24 of 352 in the league.
Richaun Holmes contested 10.0 shots per game over his 44 games.
He ranks 31 of 352 in the league.
Nemanja Bjelica contested 9.6 shots per game over his 72 games.
He ranks 35 of 352 in the league.

Houston Rockets

P.J. Tucker recovered 1.5 loose balls per game over his 71 games.
He ranks 5 of 352 in the league.
Clint Capela contested 13.9 shots per game over his 39 games.
He ranks 7 of 352 in the league.
James Harden recovered 1.5 loose balls per game over his 68 games.
He ranks 7 of 352 in the league.

Hustle figures come from the hustle stats the NBA publishes (NBA.com) and rim defense comes from its tracking; both cover the regular season. For each player in this game we show the figure that ranks him highest in the league, and for each team, the three best ranked. Ranks count players with at least 30 games and, at the rim, at least 4 defended shots per game.

The Houston Rockets have won 105 of their 162 games against the Sacramento Kings.

105-57record of the Houston Rockets · NBA 1985-86 – 2025-26, regular season and playoffs

2-2in 2025-26

See the full head-to-head in the Analyst

See where it comes from

Official NBA box scores, regular season and playoffs, 1985-86 – 2025-26. It counts every game between the two teams that the house holds, this one included.

SportiveWorld knows much more about this game

Game context

Attendance

18.055

100% of capacity

Toyota Center · Houston

Scoring

237

combined points

13.4 above the season average (223.6)

⚖️ The last two minutes

Official NBA L2M report: every call in the endgame, reviewed by the league.

19 calls reviewed1 errors admitted by the NBA

Foul: Personal · 00:32.3

Cory Joseph → James Harden

Joseph (SAC) makes contact with Harden (HOU) on the perimeter that affects Harden's SQBR.