LOS ANGELES — The Lakers’ 130-120 home loss to the Sacramento Kings was the complete opposite of their Monday victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Instead of a slow start, which they had against the Thunder, the Lakers came out with the requisite intensity and focus on both ends of the floor, opening a 19-point lead (37-18) toward the end of the first quarter.
But the Lakers (34-30) didn’t sustain the defensive performance that helped them build the double-digit lead, resulting in a 41-point turnaround across two quarters in the Kings’ favor and the Lakers’ eventual loss in a crucial matchup for their playoff chase.
The Kings (35-26), led by a career-high-tying 44 points from De’Aaron Fox, found an offensive rhythm late in the first that carried over into a second quarter when the Lakers hardly found any answers defensively.
Sacramento outscored the Lakers 54-20 across the final two minutes of the first and entirety of the second quarter – a stretch in which they made 14 consecutive shots, leading to a 66-53 lead late in the second and a 72-57 advantage at halftime. They closed the first half on a 32-9 run.
The Kings’ lead ballooned to a game-high 22 points (99-77) late in the third.
LeBron James (31 points on 10-for-16 shooting, 13 assists, five rebounds) orchestrated a 10-0 run to spark a comeback, assisting Spencer Dinwiddie on a 3-pointer and scoring seven consecutive points on his own to cut the Kings’ lead to 12 (99-87).
But as soon as James went to the bench to start the fourth, the Kings made another run, stretching their lead back to 19 points (116-97).
The Lakers trimmed the deficit to 12 after a Rui Hachimura (29 points on 13-for-17 shooting) basket, with with 4:49 left, but they didn’t get closer than that in the meaningful minutes.
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James went back to the locker room with 3:56 remaining in the game, with no explanation immediately given for his absence in the final four minutes.
Coach Darvin Ham pulled his rotation players out of the game with his team trailing 130-120 with 50 seconds left.
Anthony Davis had 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Lakers.
The Kings scored 76 points in the paint and outscored the Lakers’ bench 50-18. Malik Monk had 28 points and eight assists off the bench for the Kings, while Domantas Sabonis recorded his fourth triple-double in seven games with 16 points, 20 rebounds and 12 assists.
This story will be updated.