LOS ANGELES — JJ Redick had called Saturday night in San Francisco the Lakers’ “most-complete” game the team had played post-All-Star break.
The ingredients for the Lakers to control another buzzer-to-buzzer victory were present early in the second half of a back-to-back against Sacramento, jumping out to a first-half lead as high as 22 on Sunday night. And while the Lakers weren’t quite as dominant against the Kings, facing some second-and-third-quarter pushback from the Western Conference’s last-place squad, the Lakers ultimately cruised to a 128-104 victory.
Luka Doncic led the Lakers with 28 points, nine assists and five rebounds on 10-of-16 shooting (4 of 8 from long range), sending the home crowd on their feet midway through the third quarter when the Slovenian Star lost his balance attempting to step back from mid-range, falling to the floor.
The MVP candidate, who leads the NBA with 32.6 points per game entering Sunday, kept his dribble and emerged to his feet to nail a fadeaway 3-pointer from the right wing over Sacramento guard Daeqwon Plowden to give the Lakers a 89-65 lead – an advantage which dwindled to as little as 10 points when the Kings began the second half on a short scoring spurt capped off with a layup from Russell Westbrook (14 points on 6-of-16 shooting).
LeBron James, whom Lakers Coach JJ Redick said Saturday night may have had some hesitation from 3-point range in recent weeks before “pulling the trigger” against the Golden State Warriors, shot well from long range for the second consecutive game on his way to 24 points. The Lakers’ 41-year-old star sank three 3-pointers in the second half, his first of the bunch coming to beat the buzzer to end the third quarter to place the score at 96-76.
Effort plays across the hardwood, such as Marcus Smart sprawling out for a loose ball and shoveling an off-balanced bounce pass across the court for Austin Reaves and James to run a give-and-go down the court on the way to an alley oop from James for a 10-2 lead, or backup forward/center Maxi Kleber posturizing Kings forward Precious Achiuwa in the second quarter – gesturing to his teammates on the bench as he hung on the rim – for a 51-29 lead with 7:07 remaining in the second quarter, nudged the Lakers toward comfortably holding a double-digit lead for almost three-and-a-half quarters Sunday.
As the clock ticked toward zero on Sunday, rookie forward Adou Thiero slammed down a one-handed jam for a three-point play, guard Kobe Bufkin sank a layup off a nifty assist from guard Bronny James, who then sent Crypto.com into its loudest cheer of the night with a step-back 3-pointer.
Rui Hachimura, after having missed the previous two games on the road with an illness, played in 22 minutes and recorded eight points on 2-for-8 shooting from the field. Kings shooting guard Nique Clifford led Sacramento with 26 points in a career-and-team-high 42 minutes, the second-most he’s scored in a game this season.
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