The Los Angeles Lakers traveled to take on the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night, looking for their first win in four tries against their Pacific Division foes.
The Lakers came into the night two games behind the Kings in the standings, making this an important one. Unfortunately though, the Lakers’ struggles against the Kings continued with a 121-107 loss.
Austin Reaves got the Lakers off to a good start with the first five points of the game. He then hit two more triples to give him 11 early points and the Lakers a 13-9 lead.
After a Kings timeout, they responded well with four straight points to tie it before a big dunk by Rui Hachimura. That got Hachimura going as he had eight points in a span of a few minutes.
With De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis starting to get going from there, as they usually go against the Lakers, the game was tied at 29 at the end of the first.
After a scoreless first quarter, LeBron James got going early in the second with six straight points for L.A. The Kings hit a couple triples from there though, allowing them to take a slim lead.
As hot as Reaves was in the first half, Keegan Murray was just as hot for the Kings as they took a 60-56 lead into the halftime locker room.
The Lakers came out sloppy to begin the third quarter as the Kings scored five straight thanks to some turnovers. Davis finally ended L.A.’s drought by getting to the free throw line.
The turnovers would continue though with James being the main culprit, struggling to get anything going with Sacramento’s lead reaching double digits for the first time.
After a Lakers timeout, Davis finally made a field goal to end a more than seven-minute drought without one. The Lakers weren’t able to get out of their funk though as Sabonis and Fox continued to dominate the star matchup with Davis and James.
As James put up bad shots and committed costly turnovers, the Kings built their lead all the way up to 88-73 at the end of the third quarter.
If the Lakers were gonna make any sort of run, it would have to come early in the fourth quarter. With James and Davis on the bench though, the Lakers couldn’t get much going.
LeBron eventually returned though and went into attack mode, trying to cut down on Sacramento’s 18-point lead. He scored five straight points, including two huge dunks, to force a quick Kings timeout.
Reaves drilled another triple out of the timeout and all of a sudden the game was back to single digits. That was as close as it would get though as the Kings responded with back-to-back triples.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers now get a couple days off before returning home and hosting the Golden State Warriors in another important matchup on Saturday night.
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