The Los Angeles Lakers hosted the Sacramento Kings on Friday night looking to get a much-needed win. They were shorthanded once again as LeBron James sat out with a left adductor strain. Anthony Davis and Lonnie Walker IV were able to play despite their respective non-COVID illnesses, however.
After a close back-and-forth affair all night, the Lakers ultimately fell short, suffering a 120-114 loss to fall to 2-10 on the year.
Walker and Davis showed no signs of their illnesses early as the former began the game with a thunderous dunk and then had an assist to the latter for a layup. Davis then had a steal and a block defensively, playing with energy early.
The Lakers were sloppy with the ball early though, forcing Darvin Ham to burn a timeout with L.A. trailing 13-8 midway through the first.
L.A. responded well out of the timeout as the bench unit including Russell Westbrook, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Austin Reaves and Max Christie were able to get it going offensively. Harrison Barnes had it going offensively for Sacramento though and as a result the two teams were tied at 23 through one quarter.
The Lakers got it going from 3 to begin the second quarter as Westbrook knocked down a pair with Patrick Beverley also getting in on the action. Davis also got going offensively, allowing the Lakers to gain some separation as they built their lead to 11 after a Walker 3.
Unfortunately though, the Lakers had a poor close to the half and their lead was just 60-56 going into the locker room after De’Aaron Fox beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer.
The third quarter has been a problem all season for the Lakers and that was again the case in this one as the Kings quickly regained the lead after a Kevin Huerter 3.
The bench unit led by Westbrook and Reaves provided some nice energy one again though as the game continued to go back and forth with L.A. eventually taking an 88-87 lead into the fourth.
To start the fourth, the Lakers got sloppy again with back-to-back turnovers to allow the Kings to regain the lead.
Reaves got some tough finishes to fall out of the timeout, getting the Crypto.com Arena crowd into it with the score being close late. On the Sacramento side, Fox and Sabonis had a nice two-man game going which the Lakers struggled to defend.
With the Lakers trailing by three late, Davis made a nice turnaround jumper and then found Westbrook for another 3, giving L.A. the lead once again. Barnes made two free throws to tie it though, setting the stage for an exciting finish.
After a Lakers miss, Fox came down and made an easy bucket. Beverley then missed a 3 and Fox scored again, putting the game on ice.
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