SACRAMENTO — The Lakers have shown throughout the season that they’ll raise their level of play in big-time games.
That wasn’t the case in Wednesday night’s 120-107 loss to the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center – a matchup that had significant implications in the Western Conference standings.
Despite having the rest advantage, with the Kings playing on the second night of a back-to-back set after beating the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday and the Lakers having two days off, and having just played last week, the Lakers once again didn’t have the solutions to slowing down the Kings.
Uncharacteristic shooting nights from LeBron James (18 points on 6-for-16 shooting, 13 rebounds and nine assists) and Anthony Davis (22 points on 7-for-18 shooting, 10 rebounds, three assists) didn’t help, with the Lakers lacking offensive firepower outside of strong performances from Austin Reaves (28 points, six rebounds, four assists) and Rui Hachimura (20 points on 9-for-11 shooting).
D’Angelo Russell (six points on 2-for-9 shooting) also struggled.
What’s become clear is that the Kings (38-27), just like the Denver Nuggets, have the Lakers’ number and are a bad matchup for them.
With Wednesday’s loss, the Lakers have dropped the last five matchups against Sacramento dating to last season, and eight of the past nine.
The Kings created some of the same issues for the Lakers defensively that they did in last Wednesday’s 130-120 victory in Los Angeles.
But instead of inflicting their damage from inside the paint, the Kings made the Lakers pay from behind the arc, making 19 of 41 3-point shots (46.3%) against a Lakers team that was slow with closing out on shooters all night.
Harrison Barnes made seven 3-pointers on his way to a team-high 23 points for Sacramento. Domantas Sabonis had his league-leading 23rd triple-double with 17 points, 19 rebounds and 12 assists, extending his double-double streak to 48 games.
De’Aaron Fox had 21 points and seven assists. All five Kings starters scored at least 14 points.
The Lakers also kept getting in their way with self-inflicted wounds, turning the ball over 14 times.
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Sacramento pulled away in the third quarter after a close first half, starting the quarter on a 10-2 run to open a double-digit lead and holding the visitors to four field goals in the frame. Fox’s consecutive baskets to end the third gave the Kings a 15-point lead.
The Lakers cut the deficit to single digits early in the fourth, but Barnes and Malik Monk answered with consecutive 3-pointers to give the Kings a comfortable cushion again.
Fox sealed the Kings’ victory with a 3-pointer off an assist from Sabonis with 57.2 seconds left, giving Sacramento a 118-105 lead.
Lakers coach Darvin Ham called a timeout following the 3-pointer and took his rotation players off the court.
The Kings pulled even with Phoenix for sixth place in the Western Conference, three games ahead of the ninth-place Lakers.
More to come on this story.