.TONY RAY’s PUBLIC RECORD – 30 –
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.T. Ray Harvey | Public Information Officer
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.SACRAMENTO, Calif. — On Jan. 7, at Golden 1 Center, Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown said his team is “not good at all” when the players separate from not attempting to play defense.🎙
All because of not defending on the court, nor protecting homecourt, the Kings fell 136-134 to the renaissance Los Angeles Lakers, their second-straight loss on a five-game homestand.🎙
De’Aaron Fox had nine assists and scored 17 of his 34 points in the fourth for the Kings Kings (20-18, 11-9 at G1C). Domantas Sabonis contributed 25 points, 12 rebounds, and seven assists in front of a sellout crowd of 17,611. 🎙
Once again, the defense was not there for the Kings. Both teams combined for 146 points in the first half and Sacramento gave up a few bundles in the paint to the Lakers. 🎙
“The bottom line is obviously we have to figure out somehow, some way to stop people defensively,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “We are not good at all. (To) have a team come in here and score 136 points on 61% shooting and 70 points in the paint, that’s not good. And I don’t know – I’m not sure if we collectively as a group understand how important it is to try to fight like heck.”
Kevin Huerter had 17 six rebounds, three assists, and two steals for the Kings, who have lost nine of their last 16 games. Harrison Barnes added 18 points and Keegan Murray chipped in 16 points. 🎙
The Kings had all five starters post double-digit figures. It was the 13th time this season where the Kings starters have all posted double-digit performances within a single game.
Obviously, as players acknowledge, offense is not the problem. Overall, the fast-paced game had a total of 10 players scoring in a range from 11 points to 37 points for both teams. 🎙
“I feel like our offense was great,” Sabonis said. “We shot the ball well. We (just) couldn’t get stops.”
LeBron James had 37 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists for the Laker (19-21, 9-13 on the road). With the win the Lakers are winners of six of their last seven games, including a five-game victory stretch.
Russell Westbrook had 23 points, 15 assists, and five rebounds while Dennis Schröder knocked down 27 points. Thomas Bryant was the x-factor for the Lakers. The center had 29 points, 14 rebounds, and one steal.
Bryant grabbed one offensive rebound and then made a putback layup to give the Lakers a 126-124 lead at the 4:23 mark of the fourth quarter. While the game was tied four more times before the end of the game, Bryant pulled down four more rebounds, scored two points for another Lakers lead, and blocked a shot.
“He’s gone up against some hell of opponents,” Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said of Bryant. “You talk about (Nikola) Jokic, you talk about Bam (Adebayo), talk about (Domantas) Sabonis. He’s really going toe-to-toe with a lot of top-shelf talent. He's been nothing short of amazing.”
Down 134-132, Fox made a 14-foot turnaround shot to tie the game with 7.4 seconds left. Controversially, the refs said Fox fouled Schröder with 3.6 seconds left. Brown's challenge was to no avail. Schröder made both free throws to seal the victory for the Lakers.
“Like I said, our offense is good enough to do a lot of great things, but can we be consistent with the way we’re going to defend? I’m not sure,” Brown said. “We’re going to keep trying to coach them and work at it.”
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“The Kings have beaten us too many times.”
- Russell Westbrook
Both teams made it a wild first half of basketball. Eight players scored in double digits. LeBron James and Dennis Schorder each had 16 points to lead the Lakers.Westbrook recorded 14 points and eight assists off the bench.✍️
Harris Barnes had 14 points in the first 24 minutes while Domantas Sabonis and Kevin Huerter each had 12 buckets. Davion Mitchell made three 3-points shots in the first quarter. The total points in the first quarter was 75 points. ✍️
The Kings beat the Lakers in their two previous matchups this season. Russell WestBrook was asked what was more important - keeping the winning streak alive or not losing three straight to the Kings.🎙
“Not losing to the Kings. I would say that was the message to the group,” Westbrook said. “Going back to last year, they’ve beaten us too many times.”
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- Footage and Text by T. Ray Harvey
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