After beating the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night, the Los Angeles Lakers looked to do so again on Saturday afternoon in the second of two straight road games against their division rival. They did exactly that, hanging on for a 103-99 win to improve their record to 16-12.
Just like in the first meeting, the Lakers got off to a quick start. LeBron James kicked off the scoring and then had a beautiful pass in transition to Rui Hachimura for a dunk. After a block by Anthony Davis and 3-pointer by Max Christie, L.A. jumped out to a 7-0 lead.
The Lakers’ defense has been much-improved lately and that continued early in this one, allowing James to get out in transition where he thrives.
D’Angelo Russell then came in and made an immediate impact with five quick points, although some sloppy turnovers allowed the Kings to creep back in the game. James had a strong close to the quarter though, beating the buzzer to give the Lakers a 31-26 lead.
James continued to control the game offensively early in the second quarter, getting to the rim with ease. The Lakers let their guard down momentarily though, which allowed the Kings to take their first lead.
A strong close to the half by L.A. though that included another triple by Russell gave them a 56-53 lead at halftime.
After a quiet first half offensively, Davis started to get going in the third quarter with a pair of buckets. Outside of him though, the Lakers went ice cold from the field until Hachimura finally broke through with a 3 and then Reaves did the same.
It was a low scoring third quarter as neither team was able to gain any separation. After another strong close to the quarter by James, the Lakers took an 81-77 lead into the fourth.
James stayed hot to begin the final quarter with five straight points, but that was followed by a Kings run to tie it. Cam Reddish made his imprint on the game with a pair of three-point plays, one coming off a steal and the other off an offensive rebound.
The Lakers appeared to start to gain some separation from there with Hachimura and Russell making contributions to extend the lead to double digits. The Kings would not go away though and answered with another run to stay in it going into the final couple of minutes.
De’Aaron Fox had a chance to tie it for his team late but missed a layup. Davis then got fouled and had a chance to ice it at the line and missed them both. Hachimura had a massive tipout to Reaves though, and he made both to put the game on ice.
James led the way in the victory with 32 points to go along with seven rebounds, six assists and four steals.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers will now return home and host the Detroit Pistons on Monday night before heading back north for a Christmas Day matchup with the Golden State Warriors.
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