The Los Angeles Lakers pieced together a strong win over the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night. The two teams went back and forth for most of the game, but it was the Lakers that pulled away in the fourth quarter behind a strong defensive effort from head coach JJ Redick’s team.
The Lakers held the Kings to 42 points in the second half and 20 in the final quarter. And L.A. got the win despite shooting just 40.4% from the field. But they won the rebounding, turnover and fastbreak points battles to get the win on the margins, a rarity for them this season.
That’s why defeating the Kings the way they did might be one of the best moments of the season for Redick. He applauded his team for finding a way to win when the offense wasn’t working, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“As a group, I think this might be my favorite win we’ve had all season just because we weren’t efficient offensively but because of our crashing, because we limited them in transition, limited them to one shot, all of the things we’ve preached that give yourselves a chance to win every night if you have an off shooting night and off offensive night, we did tonight. The group was great. We had so many different contributions at different times. Max and Gabe with the offensive rebounds late, some defensive plays from Cam. Just really good stuff. AR, LeBron, AD, they were great as always.”
One particular area that Redick loved from the Lakers was their 14 offensive rebounds. He spoke about why that can be such an important stat to help win games like this one:
“I thought it gave us not just extra opportunities, it gives you life. You miss a couple shots in a row, it can be deflating. I think we were plus-14 or 15 in scoring opportunities tonight so in terms of the possession game, we did a really good job both with our turnovers, I think we ended up with 11 pre-shot clock violations, but that was big. Between that and the crashes and our ability to just get multiple stops in a row in a poor shooting night was huge, particularly on the road.”
If the Lakers can figure out how to win more games like Thursday, where they simply outwork their opponent and grind out an ugly victory, they may be on a path to rebounding their 2024-25 season. In a crowded Western Conference, every win matters, and knowing how to win ugly is an extremely important skill for a team hoping to make noise.
LeBron James humbled to pass Kareem in Lakers win
Lakers star LeBron James has his name plastered atop nearly every major statistical category, and on Thursday night he added another to the ledger. He passed Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most regular season minutes in NBA history in L.A.’s victory over the Kings.
It was the second time that LeBron had passed Kareem in a category like this, as he had passed him for most minutes combined between regular season and playoffs last year. But in both cases, it’s a testament to not only James’ longevity, but also how incredible of a player he still is even as he becomes the player with the most mileage in league history.
The Lakers star spoke about breaking the record and what it means to him.
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