The Sacramento Kings have been more competitive recently with a collection of rookies filling in for their injured veterans, but they couldn’t hang with Luka Doncic, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Doncic scored 34 points to lead the Lakers to a 125-101 victory before a sellout crowd of 18,997 on Sunday at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Kings coach Doug Christie was not satisfied with the way his team competed. Sacramento’s performance represented a step back for a team that ranked No. 1 in the NBA in steals, No. 4 in blocks and No. 6 in rebounding over the past five games.
“To be honest, just the level of physicality from the beginning wasn’t what we look at as what we are, period,” Christie said. “We talked about it after the game. Listen, this is the first time in a second that the product that we were putting out there just wasn’t there. ... The level of physicality wasn’t to the level that we draw a line in the sand and say this is what it’s going to be.”
Rookie center Dylan Cardwell agreed with Christie’s assessment.
“We just didn’t compete today,” Cardwell said. “I don’t know what it was. Even for myself, I just didn’t have it today. We lost the fight today. Usually, we’re winning these fights. At the end of the day, Sacramento Kings basketball, we’re just trying to make sure we’re competing every single day. We just didn’t bring that fight today.”
James scored 24 points on 11-of-13 shooting for the Lakers (20-10), who snapped a three-game losing streak. Nick Smith Jr. came off the bench to score 21 points.
DeMar DeRozan scored 22 points to lead the Kings (8-24), who were on the second night of a back-to-back after defeating the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday in Sacramento.
Rookie center Maxime Raynaud had 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Kings. Russell Westbrook scored 13 points, passing Dominique Wilkins for 16th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
Halftime report
The Lakers made a point of pounding the paint in the opening minutes. They went inside repeatedly, scoring their first 12 points in the paint, but the Kings managed to keep the game close.
Sacramento went up 13-12 on a turnaround jumper by DeRozan and only trailed by one following a basket by Schroder with 2:49 to play in the first quarter. The Lakers eventually created a little separation, taking a 30-24 lead after James hit a pullup jumper with 0.9 seconds remaining in the opening period.
The Kings got within three on a couple of occasions early in the second quarter, but the Lakers opened up a nine-point lead following a barrage of 3-pointers from Nick Smith Jr., Jarred Vanderbilt and Doncic. Los Angeles stretched the lead to 10 on a three-point play by Doncic and carried a 68-53 advantage into the halftime break after outscoring Sacramento 11-2 over the last three minutes.
Doncic led all scorers with 24 points in the opening half. DeRozan had 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting for Sacramento. The Kings shot 53.7% from the field, but they provided little resistance for the Lakers, who shot 62.5% from the field and 40% from 3-point range.
Second-half summary
Los Angeles continued to pull away at the start of the second half, outscoring Sacramento 13-2 over the first 3:28. The Lakers stretched their lead to 26 in the third quarter, led 99-80 going into the fourth and went up by as many as 30 in the final minutes.
The Lakers shot 52.8% from the field and 39.5% from 3-point range. The Kings shot 48.2%, but they went 8 of 29 (.276) from long distance and committed 19 turnovers.
Up next
The Kings will conclude their trip to Southern California when they visit the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday at Intuit Dome in Inglewood.
The Clippers (10-21) have won four in a row after beating the Detroit Pistons 112-99 on Sunday. They are led by James Harden, who is averaging 26.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 8.0 assists, and Kawhi Leonard, who averages 26.2 points and 6.3 rebounds. Leonard scored a career-high 55 points in Sunday’s win over Detroit.