The Sacramento Kings dropped to a 1-7 record on the season Wednesday night, losing 116-103 to the Los Angeles Lakers at home. Luka Doncic led the Lakers with 40 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Austin Reaves added 21 points. The Kings trailed 61-54 at half and was outscored 26-20 in the third quarter as the Lakers built up a 13-point lead. The Kings offense had problems throughout the second half and never really posed any threat the Lakers.
Darius Acuff Jr. led the Kings in scoring with 22 points and 12 assists, can’t ignore the 8-24 from the field and 3-11 from three though. Domantas Sabonis added 16 points and 17 rebounds, but only had 1 assist. It’s been pretty clear the offense functions more smoothly when Sabonis is dishing out assists. Didn’t happen tonight though.
Zach LaVine had 21 points but had six turnovers. The Kings actually out-rebounded Los Angeles 46-38, but 18 turnovers resulted in 23 Lakers points. Sacramento also shot just 39% from the field, and the Lakers shot 38 free throws compared to 28 for the Kings.
One encouraging development was the season debut of Dylan Cardwell. He finished with 4 points and six rebounds in 13 minutes. Doug Christie gave Leaky Black meaningful minutes again. Black played for 22 minutes and had 3 points and 6 rebounds. But the Kings committed too many turnovers and couldn’t generate consistent any consistent offense. The Lakers defense really caused a lot of problems.
Next up, the San Antonio Spurs and Victor Wembanyama, who scored 52 points had 24 rebounds and 8 blocks Wednesday.
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