By: Alex Snorton
When King James is away the Lakers can still play. With LeBron out due to his groin injury, the NBA community raised a lot of questions about how the Los Angeles Lakers would play without him. Even though the Sacramento Kings are not touted as one of the elite teams in the Western Conference, they are a young upstart squad that plays well at home.
The Lakers played a complete game overall despite their inability to close. The defense played a bend but don’t break game with this fast-paced Kings team (2nd in NBA for Pace). Offensively, the ball was distributed well (25 assists overall) and the team shot 51% from the field. With key contributions from Lance Stephenson (10 points, 3 asts), and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (7 +/-), the Los Angeles Lakers showed that they can rally in the absence of James. After this matchup, everyone knows that the Lakers can put up a quality effort without their best player.
The Matchup of Fox vs. Ball:
If this was a boxing match between these two young stars, it would be scored as a majority decision in favor of Lonzo Ball. Lonzo took advantage of Fox’s passive defense, giving him space to shoot the outside shot (4-6 from 3pt range). Ball (3 +/- for the game) also played great on-ball defense as usual but was taken advantage of in Pick & Roll situations. Fox (12 +/-) attacked the weak help defense and got to the rim at will. In the second half, both players flirted with triple-doubles. Ball played through a pesky calf cramp and recorded a double-double (20 pts, 9 rebs, 12 asts) on the game. However, the cramp kept him out of the last minute of the game when the Lakers needed his defense the most. Fox finished the game with 15 points, 9 rebounds, and 12 assists. De’Aaron and Lonzo will forever be linked since they were drafted in the same class. This will continue to be a fun division matchup we will get to enjoy for many years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWRWiUUwUlw
Game Recap:
Lakers got off to a slow start with some turnovers and missed shots while the Kings were hot shooting 6-6 from the field. It seemed like the starting five were trying to feel each other out to see who would take the lead on the offensive end. Once everyone, got into the flow of the game, the ball began to move better. When the Lakers were down 9-21, they dropped to a 26.3% win probability. Shots began falling, including 3 big 3s from Ball. After the 14-0 run to propel them to the lead, the Lakers ended the first quarter with a 59% win probability.
The pace of this game was high which is expected from this matchup. Both teams are top 5 in pace for the season. Brandon Ingram was a focal point on offense and stayed aggressive (7 +/- for the game) by making moves to attack the basket and draw in defenders. Ingram only attempted 2 shots outside of the painted area in the first half (8-19 from the field in the game). He also seemed very comfortable scoring the majority of his second half points in the P&R action. In addition to his 21 points, he recorded 2 offensive rebounds and 2 blocks.
The Lakers defense did not get the job done in regards closing out possessions. The team allowed 16 offensive rebounds in the game (22 second chance points). Chandler (11 pts, 10 rebs) provided a big spark off the bench anchoring the defense and grabbing some key rebounds (19 +/- in the half, +7 overall).
The Lakers played a pretty much perfect 2nd quarter. They ended the half shooting 55.3% from the field and did not commit a single turnover and finished the half with a 6 point lead.
Los Angeles started out the second half strong with a 3 from Ball. This was followed by cold shooting on both sides until Iman Shumpert sparked an 8-0 run. The Lakers win probability dropped from opening at 72.7% for the quarter to 63.1% after the Iman’s onslaught. The visiting team responded after a timeout called by Walton with a scoring streak of their own. The pace continued to stay high, and the Lakers opened the floodgates shooting from deep at an increasing rate in the 3rd (9-20 from 3). The Lakers ended up outscoring the Kings by 5 in the 3rd quarter (28-23).
Kyle Kuzma also had a great second half (10 pts) to add to his impressive scoring output for the game. Kyle led the team in scoring with 33 points and also did an excellent job closing the game with 5 clutch points.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI4WPMvRD3k
Both teams went up by double digits at various points of the game, but it all came down to the wire. Bogdan Bogdanovic (23 pts off the bench) threw up a step-back dagger 3 as time expired to end the game 117-116.
The Lakers are still sorting out rotations due to injuries. It is clear that this team has what it takes to make a solid run in the postseason. The game slipped through the team’s fingers, but the coaching staff and front office can collectively breath a small sigh of relief knowing that the Lakers can hold their own without LeBron James in the lineup. This will give James the opportunity to completely heal from his injury and not feel any external pressure to rush back on the court.
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