Lakers lose to Kings down the stretch, 111-116

THE LA Lakers are beginning to look like a team that can’t close out games. They lost to the Sacramento Kings  111-116 in Los Angeles Thursday morning (Manila time).

Three out of their four losses recently were just five points or less in margins.  Not even the great Lebron James could bail them out.  

Promising start

You wouldn’t bet against them if you saw how they came out firing on all cylinders in the first quarter. Lebron opened the scoring seconds into the game. 

He had 9 points in the quarter which saw the Lakers lead the Kings by as many as 14 points from a Kendrick Nunn three-pointer. 

It was in the second quarter where things got interesting in the match as the Kings started chipping away at the lead behind De’Aaron Fox shooting. 

The Kings took a one point lead at the end of the quarter 61-60 after trailing in most of the first 24 minutes of the game.

Luck of Kings

The momentum shifted in favor of the Kings and set the tone for the rest of the game after the half as the team seemed to ride their luck when they made four shots that bounced and went through the ring in the most bizarre sequence of plays.

For the basketball purist it could just be because of excellent follow through on the shots but it still it looked very interesting.

All credit must go to Kevin Huerter who made most of those tantalizingly close buckets. The Kings led 90-82 after out-scoring the Lakers 62-42 bridging the second and third quarters. 

De’Aaron Fox had 31 points leading six players in double figures for the Kings.

The Lakers had another big game from Lebron James, who scored 32 points with 8 rebounds and 9 assists for another MVP type game.

Russel Westbrook contributed 19 points in a losing effort.

It doesn’t get any easier for the struggling Lakers.  They face the second best team in the Western Conference, the Memphis Grizzlies while the Sacramento Kings face the Oklahoma Thunder next.