Los Angeles Lakers Slash Sacramento Kings on the Road, 129-113

The Los Angeles Lakers didn’t have any troubles of trashing the Sacramento Kings tonight at the Golden One Center. Frank Vogel’s team won with 129-113, posting its 37th win of the season and slowly cruising towards clinching the No.1 place in the West. This was an excellent way of erasing the yesterday’s defeat at home against the Portland Trail Blazers.

“We come out mad when we lose a game, and we don’t (want to) lose two in a row,” said Frank Vogel. “That’s just got to be the mindset for us, and to come out and score 81 points in the first half showed that.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0gvLWj8UoQ

The purple and gold were confident right from the start, which allowed them to avoid the fate of their local rivals, Clippers, who suffered a major defeat against Luke Walton’s crew a couple of nights ago.

Not once during the entire game did the Kings had a lead, and after less than five and half a minute of play, they down 25-15. The LAL dropped 11 straight points before reaching this lead, and at the end of the opening sequence, the result was 44-22 for the hosts.

Vogel’s guys were 67% from the floor in those 12 minutes, hitting seven threes in 11 attempts, and going 9-for-13 for two.

Sacramento would respond in the second period scoring 42 points, but allowing 37, which left the Lakers with a massive lead at the halftime break, 81-64.

There was no way for the hosts to come back in this one as purple and gold kept its rhythm throughout the entire second half. The high shooting percentage was the key for that, because Lakers ended the night with 51.2% from the floor, and drilling 19 threes in 43 attempts. Also, they outplayed the Kings in their own game, scoring 37 points from fast breaks, and allowing just 14.

LeBron posted a triple-double with just 15 points, but with 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Anthony Davis had a team-high with 21 buckets, Avery Bradley had 10, dropping 5 threes. Lakers’ bench was outstanding with four players with 10 or more points.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 15, Alex Caruso 12, same as Rajon Rondo, who had 8 assists as well, while Kuzma added 12 buckets.

“It means everything to me, putting on this jersey, knowing that he put on this jersey for 20 years,” Bradley said of Kobe. “It makes me want to go out there and play as hard as I can.”

Shoutout to Lakers Nation chanting in Sacramento 💜💛

(📺: @SpectrumSN) pic.twitter.com/QTkRIs09Rh

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) February 2, 2020

Among the hosts, De’Aaron Fox led the way with 24 points, but also recording 7 turnovers. Buddy Hield had 22, and Harry Giles 16.

“If you go five of ten from the free throw line we don’t care. Keep going. Keep attacking,” said Walton about his players who made a lot of errors, emphasizing Fox’s performance.

Vlade Divac needs to make some changes in the team; otherwise, the current crew won’t make any notable results in the future. It is obvious that the Kings’ roster seems overcrowded and that some of the players need to leave in order to create some chemistry.

The Lakers (37-11) are awaiting two teams from Texas in the next few days, The first match is against the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday, and after that vs. Houston Rockets on Thursday. Following these two events, LA travels to San Francisco for a meeting with the Warriors.

The Kings (18-31) play their next three matches at the Golden One Center. Their opponents will be solid teams, against whom they might record wins and slightly improve the overall situation in the standings. Minnesota comes to town on Monday, then Heat on Friday, followed by a second of back-to-back nights versus the Spurs.