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…
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