The Los Angeles Lakers are coming off an 118-112 defeat to the New York Knicks last night, which is their sixth in a row. Hopefully, the Lakers can start their seven-game road trip of to a good start as they travel to Sacramento to take on the kIngs. Check out our live recap:
1st Quarter
The Lakers started the game with a lineup of D’Angelo Russell, Nick Young, Luol Deng, Julius Randle, and Timofey Mozgov. The Kings countered with Darren Collison, Ben McLemore, Rudy Gay, DeMarcus Cousins, and Kosta Koufos.
After a couple of sloppy possessions to start the game for both teams, Mozgov got the Lakers going by converting a nice pass from Russell for a layup and scoring a put back to give the Lakers an early lead. A missed layup by Rudy Gay was taken advantage of by the Lakers as Russell connected on a three-pointer.
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The Kings started the game poorly as they were unable to get anything going on the offensive end. Collison stopped the Los Angeles momentum by hitting an and-one, and Koufos hit a turnaround layup to get them rolling. After a Young three-pointer for Los Angeles, Cousins got his first points of the night by hitting a jumper over Mozgov on the next possession to cut the deficit to 17-11.
After a timeout, Randle was blocked at the rim by Cousins and the Kings were able to hit a three of their own to bring them within three points with fewer than five minutes remaining in the quarter.
Luke Walton was thrown out of the game as he angrily argued a non-call that saw Cousins wrap his arms around Randle and bring him to the ground. Jordan Clarkson tried to pull Walton back to the bench, but it was too late as the referees quickly gave him two technical fouls.
After a couple of baskets by the Kings, Lou Williams drilled a three-pointer for his first basket of the night. The Kings finished the quarter strong as they hit 11 of their last 13 shot attempts.
L.A. trailed at the end of the first quarter, 31-24.
2nd Quarter
The Kings scored the first four points of the quarter, but the Lakers quickly responded with a Brandon Ingram jumper and a Thomas Robinson dunk to cut the Kings lead to eight. Arron Afflalo connected on a three-pointer after the Lakers failed an alley-oop attempt for Larry Nance Jr.
A nice outlet pass from Clarkson to Williams resulted in another three-pointer, the Lakers fifth of the night. After Kings timeout, Clarkson converted two free thrown to tie the game at 41 a piece.
After Robinson stole the ball for the Lakers he was unable to finish at the other end, which the Kings turned into Omri Casspi layup. Deng hit a three-pointer and threw down a dunk to continue his strong play that began last night.
Russell was brought back into the game and immediately took advantage of his size against a smaller Collison and backed his way towards the basket only to be fouled. He was able to hit his pair of free throws to give the Lakers a one-point lead.
Once again, Deng connected on a three-pointer to up his point total to eight points on the night, and the next Lakers possession Russell knocked down a midrange jumper to extend the Lakers 9-0 run. After a Kings layup by Garrett Temple, Russell knocked down another triple that was followed by a driving layup by Randle to give the Lakers a nine-point lead.
L.A. used 34 points in the second quarter to take the lead into halftime, 58-49.
3rd Quarter
The quarter began with Cousins finding Temple under the basket for an easy layup. On the following Lakers possession, Mozgov had the ball stolen away from him, and Cousins hit a three-pointer to bring the Kings within one-point. After the Kings tied the game on a Temple corner three, Deng responded by hitting a midrange jumper.
Russell again used his height advantage against Collison and delivered a nice looking turnaround jumper from the free-throw line. Sacramento was able to capitalize on a Lakers turnover with an and-one dunk for Casspi.
A Cousins and-one gave the Kings a 10-point lead, but luckily Ingram responded with a jumper to stop the Kings momentum.
Cousins continued his strong third quarter by knocking down his second three-pointer to give them a 15 point lead that forced the Lakers to call a timeout. Consecutive threes by Collison extended the lead to 21 points with fewer than here minutes to play.
The Lakers played awful in the quarter as they allowed the Kings to score 39 points. The Lakers trail at the end of third, 88-71.
4th Quarter
Lou Williams began the quarter by drilling a jumper from the free-throw line, but on the ensuing Kings possession Robinson was called for goaltending. Clarkson was rewarded after a nice cut to the basket with a pass from Ingram for a layup to cut the deficit to 15.
The quarter was a little bit of the same as the third. The Lakers made a couple of shots to try and ignite a comeback, but was either countered by a Kings basket or a turnover. The third quarter proved to be detrimental as the Lakers were unable to find any kind of rhythm on either end of the floor.
Cousins finished with 31 points and 16 rebounds and Collison contributed 20 points.
Deng finished with 16 points and four rebounds. The Lakers lose to the Kings, 116-92.
