The Los Angeles Lakers continued their preseason tour on Wednesday night when they hosted the Sacramento Kings at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
The Lakers were without some key players like LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves, Jarred Vanderbilt and Cam Reddish, but it didn’t matter as the rest of the team showed up in a big way to earn a 109-101 victory. L.A. is now 2-1 halfway through their preseason slate.
With so many guys out, Gabe Vincent entered the starting lineup for the Lakers and got off to a hot start with five quick points. Rui Hachimura did as well, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers and then some free throws to give L.A. an early 14-8 lead.
D’Angelo Russell took over from there as he was in control for most of the first quarter, creating plays for himself and his teammates to the tune of eight points and five assists in eight minutes.
The Kings got hot themselves to end the quarter though as Harrison Barnes drained a pair of triples and Malik Monk made one to cut their deficit to 30-28 through one.
Chris Duarte then got in on the action from deep to begin the second quarter, giving the Kings their first lead. The Lakers had a quick answer though with Vincent and Max Christie draining back-to-back 3s.
After a quiet first quarter, Sacramento’s stars De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis got going offensively midway through the second despite the latter picking up three fouls. Taurean Prince found his deep stroke for the Lakers near the end of the first half although the Kings eventually took a 51-50 lead into the locker room.
Fox’s aggression continued into the third quarter, although he got a little too aggressive on defense and fouled Russell on a 3-point attempt. Russell continued being the floor general the Lakers needed, finding Prince for another open corner 3 and then drilling two of his own from deep to stretch the Lakers’ lead to 70-62.
With the Lakers leading by double figures late in the third, Darvin Ham essentially emptied the bench for the young guys to finish out the game.
Russell had an exceptional game for L.A., finishing with 21 points, three rebounds and eight assists on 8-of-12 shooting. Vincent also had 15 points of his own while Prince and Hachimura poured in 13 each.
The Lakers went into the fourth quarter with a solid 90-79 lead as the young guns closed the quarter well. That continued into the fourth with Max Christie and Maxwell Lewis leading the way to stretch the lead all the way to 17, where they would easily hang on for the victory.
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