The Los Angeles Lakers went on the road to take on the division rival Sacramento Kings on Sunday night with both teams looking to improve to 2-1.
It was a back-and-forth affair that required overtime although it was the Kings that ultimately came away with a 132-127 victory.
The Lakers had a couple sloppy turnovers early, leading to a 7-3 start with L.A.’s first bucket being a Taurean Prince 3-pointer.
A pair of blocks by Anthony Davis helped settle the Lakers in, and then he got on the scoreboard with a putback layup. The Lakers have struggled in transition, however, and that continued early in this one with the Kings jumping out to an 18-9 lead.
While the Lakers responded with a 6-0 run after a timeout, they could not keep the Kings off the 3-point line early. Former Laker JaVale McGee then got the home crowd on their feet to end the quarter with a poster dunk, giving the Kings a 41-28 lead at the end of one.
Christian Wood got going from deep early in the second with back-to-back triples, although it didn’t make much of a dent as the Lakers continued to provide no resistance on the defensive end.
Eventually the Kings finally cooled down from deep though and the Lakers started chipping away. Austin Reaves got a number of open looks but couldn’t convert as his early-season struggles continued, although Davis made up for it by continuing his two-way dominance for L.A.
The Lakers got their deficit down to four at one point but a poor close to the half with De’Aaron Fox scoring five straight had them trailing 66-55 going into the locker room.
The Kings picked up four team fouls in the first two minutes of the third quarter, so the Lakers were in the bonus the rest of the way and began the half on a 6-2 run, forcing a Sacramento timeout. They responded well, however, making a pair of triples to get their lead back to double digits.
Prince has been a solid addition for the Lakers so far this season and that continued in the third quarter when he led a run, finding Davis for a dunk and then drilling back-to-back triples.
Despite both Sabonis and Fox picking up their fourth fouls and finishing the third quarter on the bench, the Lakers weren’t able to get over the hump and went into the fourth quarter trailing 87-83.
After a slow start to the season, Rui Hachimura finally got going with two 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter to give the Lakers their first lead. They built a five-point advantage before Fox returned and completed a much-needed three-point play for his team.
Fox would go on to roll his ankle and had to go back to the locker room for a minute before returning and promptly drilling a triple, matching one that James made on the previous possession.
The Lakers went cold at the wrong time, missing seven straight shots to go down by six late before LeBron ended the drought with a dunk.
Davis would eventually tie the game in the final minute with a putback dunk although Gabe Vincent then committed a silly foul on Fox, who made a pair of free throws. James then drove to the basket for an easy layup, so the game was tied again with 13 seconds to play, setting up one final possession for the Kings where Keegan Murray missed a triple to send the game to overtime.
After a relatively quiet night, Malik Monk came alive in overtime with nine quick points for Sacramento to go up by four. Despite five points by James, Kevin Huerter hit a massive 3-pointer to put his team back up five in the final minute. That ended up being enough to close it out as the Lakers were not able to come back.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!
