The Houston Rockets acquired Ron Artest from the Sacramento Kings last summer in an attempt to add insurance in case injury-prone stars Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming struggled to stay healthy again in 2008-09.

With McGrady out for the season and Artest playing a crucial role for Houston, it's looking like a smart move.

Artest returns to Sacramento for the first time since the trade and the Rockets look to use the opener of a favorable two-game road trip to improve their playoff position Thursday night when they meet the league-worst Kings.

Houston (50-28) has reached 50 wins for the third consecutive season in large part because Artest has been a strong addition to the starting lineup since McGrady was lost for the season with a knee injury that required microfracture surgery.

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Since McGrady's last game Feb. 9, Artest is averaging 19.3 points in 26 straight starts. The Rockets are 19-7 in that stretch.

Artest may be even more valuable defensively. He helped the Rockets hold Orlando to its lowest point total in nearly two months in a 93-83 victory Tuesday night. The Magic shot 38.0 percent from the field.

"The defense was good, we helped each other out," said Artest, who had 16 points, six rebounds and seven assists but went 6-for-21 from the field. "We stuck to the game plan."

That win helped Houston in its fight for playoff position in the tightly packed Western Conference. The Rockets know they have an opportunity to improve their standing on this road trip against the last-place Kings (16-61) and lottery-bound Golden State.

The Rockets are 18-20 on the road, where they've dropped three straight.

"It's important for us to try and get that home-court advantage in the playoffs in the first round," reserve guard Von Wafer said. "That's going to make a difference. We've just got to try to win the remainder of these games because we play a lot better when we are here at home. ... We need to try to duplicate what we do here on the road."

Houston lost both its games at Arco Arena last season, its first under former Sacramento coach Rick Adelman, who led the Kings to eight straight playoff appearances from 1999-2006. Artest averaged 28.0 points and 4.5 steals in those two wins over the Rockets before reuniting with Adelman in Houston.

Without Artest, this year's Kings may not have enough to keep up with the Rockets. They've given up 113.3 points per game while losing seven of their last eight at home, including 122-104 to the West-leading Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.

"We played hard for the majority of the game, but we had our bad defensive stretches which really put us away," interim coach Kenny Natt said.

The Kings have had an equally hard time defending the Rockets' frontcourt in losing this season's first two meetings, both in Houston. Yao has averaged 27.0 points and 12.0 rebounds while shooting 61.3 percent from the field in those games, while forward Luis Scola has chipped in 21.0 points and 10.5 boards.

Houston's frontcourt welcomed Carl Landry back Tuesday night. It was the first action for the second-year forward since he was shot in the left calf in a late-night altercation on a Houston street March 17.

"It's been a long three weeks, probably the longest three weeks of my life," said Landry, who had eight points and five rebounds in 20-plus minutes off the bench. "Just being out there with my teammates and seeing everybody happy and excited for me to be back, it was a great feeling."