It wasn’t always pretty. In fact it was downright ugly at times. But in the end the Los Angeles Lakers picked up their second-straight win, defeating the Sacramento Kings 99-86.
Julius Randle showed off the best and worst of his game, finishing with 22 points, 14 rebounds, and six assists, but also had six of the Lakers’ season-high 26 turnovers. Lonzo Ball, meanwhile, notched a double-double without points, totaling 11 rebounds and 11 assists to go along with five points and five steals.
It looked like it might be an easy night for the Lakers as they started off red hot with a 26-8 run led by Brandon Ingram’s 10 early points. Unfortunately, their bench was completely outplayed in the first half as Bogdan Bogdanovic led the Kings right back into the game with a team-high 19 points.
But right when things looked as if they were going to go bad for the Lakers, their two veterans stepped up to turn things around. Brook Lopez and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope knocked down three straight 3-pointers to put the Lakers back ahead.
Lopez’s hot streak would continue as he knocked down five from deep on the night to finish with 18 points. Caldwell-Pope added 16 and led the defensive charge along with Ball.
Defense was the name of the game for the Lakers as the 86 points they allowed were the fewest this season. They also held the Kings to just 34.5 percent shooting while forcing 16 turnovers which would’ve been great if not for their own turnover issues. Along with Randle’s six, Ingram had seven, which accounted for more than half of the Lakers miscues.
Nonetheless they were able to overcome all of it with an exciting, albeit sloppy victory and any win they can get after dropping nine straight is welcome. With the San Antonio Spurs coming to town on Thursday, the Lakers will need to stay on top of things if they expect to keep the win streak going.
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