The Sacramento Kings came into Sunday’s matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers on a high. All Star forward Domantas Sabonis was back from injury, Russell Westbrook was fired up to face his former team, and Zach Lavine’s hot start to the season extended in Sacramento’s clutch win over the Utah Jazz on Friday night.
The Kings got another gift in the form of some injury news as Lakers point guard Luka Doncic was ruled out with a thumb injury and was scheduled to miss the game. Los Angeles was already without Lebron James and so would be without two of the best players in the league. This left the Lakers with a diminished roster led by Austin Reeves and DeAndre Ayton who would have to shoulder the offensive load.
Sacramento inserted guard Keon Ellis into the starting lineup and Sabonis took his usual place as the starting center. One of the key storylines from the night was the possibility of a revenge game from Russell Westbrook who had an acrimonious breakup with the Lakers after his time there.
Let Russ Be Russ:
Westbrook responded with his best scoring game of the season with 18 points, including a deadly night from range where he went 4-6 and added 6 rebounds and 6 assists for good measure. The veteran guard was fired up for the night and his motivations for wanting to send LA packing in defeat were clear.
For the Kings, the star man on the night was Lavine once again as he put up 32 points on 12-24 shooting and was an impressive 4-9 from three. Dennis Schroeder also did his part in orchestrating the offense as he recorded 12 assists which lead both teams on the night.
Unfortunately for Sacramento none of that was enough as Austin Reaves, and the officials, took over the Golden 1 Center in front of a sellout crowd in the second home game of the season. Reaves got off to a slow start with just 7 points in the first but started to cook in the second with 14 points and several trips to the free-throw line.
The explosion continued in the third as did the free throw parade with another 15 points and 8 free throw attempts for the young guard from Oklahoma. Reaves would match that with yet another 15 points in the fourth but this time most of his damage came from three as he went 3-4 to end the Kings’ late comeback attempt. It was a career night for Reaves as he put up a remarkable 51 points though it’s worth nothing that 21 of those points came from the charity stripe.
Who Needs Luka?
Aside from Reaves’ career performance, the free throw disparity was a major storyline as the Kings had just 18 free throw attempts compared LA’s 46. The bulk of which were taken by Reaves as he was the primary and secondary offensive outlet for the Lakers. He also fell just one assist short of a triple double as he rounded out an impressive night with 11 boards and 9 assists. Sacramento simply had no answer for the hot hand of Reaves and the generous whistle he received did them no favors either.
This was a great opportunity for the Kings to stack a couple of wins before a four-game road trip that includes stops in Oklahoma City, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Denver. The Lakers were undermanned and as the home announcers said at the conclusion of the game, this was one that the Kings will look back on in March and say, “we should have had this one”.
There are plenty of positives to take from the collective team performance but failing to beat the Lakers without their two best players is a real disappointment from a team teeming with veterans.
