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SACRAMENTO – There have not been many times so far this season where the Lakers felt confident when playing in front.
But with just over three minutes to go, a jumper from LeBron James signaled to the Golden One Center crowd that the match was over. Until the age of 15, the Lakers finally got one in their bag.
By Lakers standards (6-6), the 101-86 win over the Kings (7-6) was a painless victory, in which they looked like the best team early on and – despite a dangerously slim lead – they were able to take it away. with a margin in hand.
With this win, the Lakers recorded a .500 record for the first time this season – at least one symbolic demarcation line from the Western Conference in the raw state. And after an eventful start to the season that put the patience throughout the franchise to the test, winning the team's fourth of the last five games has given the Lakers' rebuilding efforts an air of calm. .
Even if it was not always pretty.
The Lakers entered the match as the # 1 NBA team by scoring the fastest Sacramento # 2 score. But by comparison, the older Lakers seemed to be content to play a little slower than their opponents. usual torrent.
James had a particularly strong start to the game, scoring 6 of his first 9 attempts on the field before finishing with 25 points in the evening – an obvious performance when most of his teammates had difficulties on the field. Except James (10 against 18) and Javale McGee (5 against 6 for 10 points), the rest of the Lakers runners are only 12 years old for 40 shots.
But the real difference was Sacramento's ugly offense, which, according to the point of view, was to stifle the Lakers' defense or play the second consecutive night – or both.
The Kings never really found a pace of attack, scoring less than 25 points per quarter. The Lakers only allowed Sacramento to take down 34.8% of the vote, which is by far the lowest of the season for one of their opponents.
The first minutes foreshadowed optimism about the Lakers' easy win. The less than intimidating rim protection of Sacramento left tracks open to James, McGee and other Lakers who quickly took a 16-point lead in the second quarter. Kings' turnovers (11 in the first period) only accelerated the process.
The Lakers, however, left the door open in Sacramento. In the second set, back-to-back turnovers allowed both players to switch from Bogdan Bogdanovic to Willie Cauley. -Stein respectively.
At the end of the half, the Lakers needed a big 3-pointer from James to bring back to just six points.
The third quarter entering the fourth quarter, the Lakers have found the separation, in part thanks to the 3 points of Lance Stephenson and a bench swap led by Rajon Rondo (7 assists). The Lakers led by no less than 20 points in the fourth quarter.
The win set up an easy transition for the Lakers, who are returning home to play Sunday against the Atlanta Hawks (3-9).
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