Lakers woes return in high-turnover night loss to Kings
The Los Angeles Lakers woes return in a slow first-quarter start and high turnover night, falling to the Sacramento Kings 125–110 on Wednesday.
“Those self-inflicted wounds hurt us early, particularly in the first quarter,” head coach Darvin Ham said. “By halftime, we had given them 30 points in points off turnovers.”
While the Lakers posted solid shooting numbers — 37.9% (11/29) from three and 50.6% (42/83) overall — inconsistency and a 23-turnover night didn’t bode well for Los Angeles’ success. The Kings capitalized, scoring 30 points off the Lakers’ turnovers.
The Lakers got out to a slow start, a trend that has hurt them over half their games this season, getting outscored 38–25 in the first quarter.
The Lakers bounced back with a 34-point second quarter but started the second half slowly, getting outscored 32-21 in the third quarter. They made a 10-2 fourth-quarter run before running out of time in their battle with the clock, leading to their sixth-season loss.
In the second game of a back-to-back and the third game in four days, Anthony Davis showed signs of fatigue, not performing at full strength against Kings Domantas Sabonis due to ongoing left adductor/hip spasms.
“Obviously, it was still bothering me a little bit, but I still have to go out there and do my job,” Davis said of his lingering injuries.
Davis confirmed that he will play against the Portland Trail Blazers this Friday in the Lakers' next matchup.
Sabonis outperformed Davis with a 29-point, 16-rebound and seven-assist outing, while Davis scored nine points and grabbed nine rebounds in 34 minutes.
In the Lakers loss, LeBron James became the second oldest player to record a triple-double and moved to 5th all-time in triple-doubles ahead of Hall of Famer Jason Kidd.
LeBron finished with 28 points, 12 assists, 10 rebounds and four steals in 35 minutes.
“We have too many games that’s coming up on top of us very soon,” LeBron said. “You learn from the mistakes; you learn from some of the good things you did, but you got to move on.”
The Lakers loss overshadowed a solid outing from D’Angelo Russell, who finished with a team-high 28 points on 4-for-6 (66.6%) shooting from deep and 12-for-20 (60%) overall, adding five rebounds and five assists in 34 minutes.
Cam Reddish continued his mark in the starting rotation, scoring 16 points on 7-for-14 (50%) shooting from the field with a season-high five steals in 32 minutes.
Since being inserted in the starting lineup, Reddish has averaged 15.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.8 steals while shooting 52.4% from three and 53.7% overall from the field, according to StatMuse.
The Lakers will play their next matchup on the road this Friday for their third in-season tournament game against the Portland Trail Blazers at 7 p.m.
