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.
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…
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