The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Sacramento Kings behind Anthony Davis‘ game-saving block, 99-97.
Despite playing without two of their young players in De’Aaron Fox and Marvin Bagley, the Kings got off to a hot start offensively as they knocked down 3-of-4 from the three-point line to take the early lead. On the other end, the Lakers continued their outside shooting woes as they were unable to capitalize on multiple open looks.
Even after going small with Davis at center, Los Angeles was still unable to get much going as Sacramento packed the paint and dared them to shoot. To make matters worse, Harrison Barnes hit a halfcourt heave that put the Lakers down 10 after the first.
The purple and gold responded to begin the second as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Kuzma knocked down a couple of threes to breathe some life into the team. However, the Kings continued their great shooting from downtown and quickly upped their lead thanks to a 10-0 run.
Los Angeles finally got going on both ends as they strung together several stops and went on a 14-0 run to take their first lead of the game. The Kings eventually settled down and retook the lead, but the Lakers looked much better overall as they went into halftime only down one.
Following their good finish from the last quarter, the Lakers started the third with a lot more energy and were able to get great looks in the paint. Alex Caruso also shook off a poor shooting start as he scored seven straight points to help extend Los Angeles lead.
LeBron James also began to make his presence felt as he bullied the Kings undersized defenders on drives to the rim while dishing out several nice assists. However, sloppy play at the end of the quarter allowed the Kings to hang around and as a result, the Lakers went into the final period only up three.
After the Kings briefly tied the game, James once again took over the scoring burden as he hit a couple of tough jumpers including a deep, stepback three to help push the Lakers lead to eight. Despite that, Sacramento continued to play hard and went on a 9-0 run to go back up one.
Both teams ended up trading baskets down the stretch with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bogdon Bogdonavic leading the way for their teams. With less than six seconds left and the Lakers up two, the Kings had a chance to tie or take the lead but Davis erased a Barnes layup attempt and Los Angeles escaped with the win.
