The new players on the Kings team are quite good, but there are just too many of them, and none have the level of talent like Jokic.
At the end of the first quarter, the Kings were trailing the Rockets by double digits, 18 to 30.
Worth mentioning, the League has implemented the 14-second rule for a second shot clock on a possession for the new season, which means that grabbing an offensive rebound in the past reset the shot clock to 24 seconds, but now it's 14 seconds.
This will greatly enhance the pace of the game, which is a boon to teams like the Rockets who specialize in transition offense.
In the second quarter, Lue made some adjustments to the lineup, substituting Sabonis with Hield during the main phase of the quarter.
This is to counter the Rockets' transition play, a passive adjustment, but it had good results.
Hansen also stepped up in this quarter, scoring 14 points, helping the Kings narrow the gap to 48-54 before halftime.
