The Lakers headed to Sacramento on Wednesday night for the second game of a back-to-back. The team was without the services of Pau Gasol (vertigo), Chris Kaman (calf), Steve Nash (ankle), and Xavier Henry (knee), all of which played in yesterday’s loss to the Trail Blazers. Jordan Hill took advantage of his opportunity and finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds before fouling out. Jodie Meeks led the Lakers with 21 points and Nick Young chipped in 17 points off the bench. Kendall Marshall also finished with double digit assists once again. The Lakers gave up 52 points in the paint and 48 percent shooting from the field as they lacked a true defensive presence in the center. The Lakers battled and made it interesting but couldn’t overcome Kings as they fell 107-102.
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First Quarter:
Kings guard Ben McLemore came out strong and hit his first two shots to give the Kings an early lead. A series of great defense plays, allowed the Lakers to break out and take their first lead. The Lakers continued to play strong defense that lead to easy buckets on the other end. The Kings dominated the paint and offensive glass throughout the quarter en route to an 18-16 lead with three minutes to play. Back to back buckets from Robert Sacre helped the Lakers tie the game up but a last second basket by Ray McCallum gave the Kings a 24-23 lead after one.
Second Quarter:
Back to back threes sandwiched around a Kings bucket gave the Lakers the lead early in the quarter. Behind McCallum’s hot shooting, the Kings went on a quick 9-0 run to take a six point lead. Another four-point play from Nick Young brought the Lakers within three points.
However, the Kings continued their hot shooting and grew their lead to as high as 12 points. The Lakers continued to battle but couldn’t get any lower the deficit to any less than five points. Ray McCallum hit another last second shot to end the second quarter and the Kings took a 60-52 lead into the half.
Third Quarter:
The Lakers made four of their first six shots to crawl back within one point before a Sacramento timeout. Good defense sparked another Laker run as they finally tied the game following two Ryan Kelly free throws.
Every time the Kings went up the Lakers found a way to battle back and a Bazemore three capped a 5-0 run as they found themselves down just one. But in accordance with they way things had gone, the Kings ended the quarter on a 14-4 run and took an eleven point lead into the final quarter.
Fourth Quarter:
An and-one from Jodie Meeks finally got the scoring going after two scoreless minutes. The Lakers struggled to find their shot as the Kings maintained a double digit lead for much of the quarter. Back-to-back threes from Young and Johnson brought the deficit back to single digits mid way through the quarter. A Meeks layup off a beautiful pass from Marshall brought the Lakers within five with less than five minutes to play. The Lakers continued to battle as a Kelly dunk capped a 7-2 run to bring the deficit down to three.
Following a missed layup from Bazemore, free throws from Travis Outlaw and McCallum solidified the win for the Kings, 107-102.
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