While the Los Angeles Lakers appear to finally be generating some traction, with wins in three of their last four games, they’ll have to keep it going on the road against a surprising Sacramento Kings team.
This will be the first of a back-to-back against the Kings and the Atlanta Hawks, marking a second such instance in as many weekends for the Lakers. Off to 5-6 start against a very tough Western Conference schedule, they’ll have to take winnable games like this if they hope to get a high playoff seed.
However, the Kings have started off exceedingly well, and it’s looking like this isn’t the type of team from years past.
Now coming off of a strong win against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Lakers will look to build chemistry with new addition, Tyson Chandler. However, both Chandler and JaVale McGee will have their work cut out for them against the young and red hot Willie Cauley-Stein, who seems to be on pace for a career year averaging 17.2 points and 7.9 rebounds.
Cauley-Stein is also coming off of back-to-back 25-point games against the Toronto Raptors and Timberwolves. As of now, Lonzo Ball is still questionable, but did participate in shootaround and is hoping to play.
Should Ball remain in the lineup, he’ll face Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox who is having a career year of his own. Rajon Rondo’s perimeter defense has been shaky thus far, so hopefully Ball can play and put pressure on Fox.
The Lakers and Kings have had almost identical starts to the season statistically, both with top-five offenses and bottom-five defenses.
The Lakers need to start racking up wins now, as they face an easier schedule than they’ve been dealing with to start the year.
With the Kings, Hawks, Orlando Magic, Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers all coming up in the next two weeks, this is where it’s important that the Lakers get wins. In an extremely tough Western Conference, rarely do teams get an easy night.
Los Angeles Lakers (5-6) vs. Sacramento Kings (7-5)
7:00 P.M. PT, Nov. 10, 2018
Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, California
TV: Spectrum SportsNet
Radio: 710 AM (ESPN)/1330 KWKW (Spanish)
Projected Lakers Starting Lineup:
PG: Lonzo Ball
SG: Brandon Ingram
SF: LeBron James
PF: Kyle Kuzma
C: JaVale McGee
Key Reserves: Tyson Chandler, Rajon Rondo, Josh Hart, Lance Stephenson
Projected Kings Starting Lineup:
PG: De’Aaron Fox
SG: Iman Shumpert
SF: Buddy Hield
PF: Nemanja Bjelica
C: Willie Cauley-Stein
Key Reserves: Kosta Koufos, Marvin Bagley III, Troy Williams, Frank Mason