After a back and forth game that featured 23 lead changes and both teams scrapping for a chance to get a much needed win, it was the Kings who took control late with a timely 8-0 run to close out the game 120-114 and hand the Lakers their 5th straight loss, dropping them to 2-10 on the season.
The Lakers, without LeBron James due to his strained adductor, battled hard all night and played well enough to win, but couldn’t execute offensively down the stretch going scoreless over the final 2:13 of the game. The team tried to get the ball into the post to Anthony Davis, but fronting defenses to deny him the ball and double teams when he finally did get a touch forced the ball into his teammates hands and they were unable to get anything going.
On the other end, though, the Kings played themselves into an excellent rhythm, particularly De’Aaron Fox who took control late via handoff actions with Sabonis, snaking his way into the lane and knocking down contested jumper after contested jumper. The Lakers tried different defensive approaches with him, but ultimately didn’t have any answers for him down the stretch. After going scoreless in the 1st quarter, Fox poured in 32 points over the final three periods – including 10 in the final frame – to go along with 12 assists and 7 rebounds.
There’s an argument to be made, however, that this game shouldn’t have even been as close as it was late, or, at the very least, that the Lakers should have been in a better position and not needed to play nearly perfectly down the stretch in an attempt to win the game. After another excellent 2nd quarter run had allowed the Lakers to take a double-digit lead late in the half, things unraveled and the team nearly gave it all back.
With 36.4 seconds left remaining in the half, Westbrook had a great drive and finish around Kevin Huerter to put the Lakers up 59-48. After the play, however, Russ received a technical foul for taunting. After the Kings missed the free throw, Fox hit a short jumper to cut the lead to single digits. On the next Lakers possession, a Westbrook turnover then led to a layup by Huerter to cut the lead to 7. On the Lakers next play, and what was setup to be the final possession of the half, Westbrook committed his second turnover in as many possessions and followed it up with a take-foul to stop the clock with 2.0 seconds on the clock. The Kings made the resulting free throw and then ran a good inbound play up the sideline to get off a last second 3-pointer that also went in.
What was a double-digit lead just a half-minute before was now down to only 4-points heading into the 2nd half. And while the rest of the game was highly contested and both teams had more than their fair share of chances to take control of the game to win, that stretch was critical in resetting the tone of the game and evening the terms in a way that defied the level both teams had played to through the first 24 minutes.
Despite this loss and the heartbreaking nature of it all, though, there’s good reason for the Lakers to be proud of how they competed.
Anthony Davis, playing through a virus that had him questionable heading into the game, had a wonderful 2-way performance, scoring 24 points (8-17 FG’s, 8-11 from the FT line) to go along with 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 3 blocks. Austin Reaves (7-12 FG’s) and Lonnie Walker (8-14 FG’s) both added 19 points each, scoring efficiently and making countless hustle plays over the course of the game. Wenyen Gabriel brought great energy, made all 4 of his shots, and was a team best +10 on the night. Not to mention Max Christie, Juan Toscano-Anderson, and Damian Jones all offering positive contributions in their more limited minutes.
That said, despite any disappointment they feel after having such a good chance to get a needed victory, the Lakers don’t have any time to hang their heads and will look to get back on track when the Nets visit on Sunday.