LOS ANGELES – After a 10-day trip that spanned five cities and two time zones, the Lakers finally returned home.
But even if their business trip ended, the Lakers’ vacation did not start. No matter how many methods the Lakers tried to ensure sharp play before the NBA All-Star break begins, nothing seemed to stick during their 97-96 loss to the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday at Staples Center.
Lakers reserve guard Lou Williams provided yet another prolific performance in crunch time, scoring 19 of his team-high 29 points in the fourth quarter to help the Lakers battle back from a 16-point deficit. Williams was 10 for 18 from the field and led the Lakers in scoring for the 29th time this season.
A Williams 3-pointer tied the score at 91-91 with 1:45 left, and he made another to tie it at 96-96 with 30.4 seconds left. But he could not bail out the Lakers on the final play when he missed a pull-up 3-point attempt as time expired.
The loss did not fall on Williams, though. His late-game heroics only camouflaged another night of inconsistent play from the Lakers (19-38) against DeMarcus Cousins (40 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists) and the Kings (24-32). Were they distracted?
“There was definitely some times (as a player) I was completely locked in and focused,” Lakers coach Luke Walton said of pre-All-Star break distractions. “There were other times I had my plane trip booked for Cabo and I couldn’t wait for All-Star (break) to come. With one more game (to play) before that, I hope that’s not the case.
“I think they’ll come out and play a better game tomorrow (in Phoenix).”
Though Walton worked out second-year guard D’Angelo Russell on Tuesday morning for an extra shooting session, that hardly translated into the game. Russell was held to eight points on 3-of-9 shooting, logging more turnovers (five) than assists (one) before spending the entire fourth quarter on the bench.
“With the team that we have, obviously we’re going to try to get minutes of experience, minutes for these young guys,” Walton said of sitting Russell and starting forward Julius Randle late. “But we were down 16 and that group, they kind of fought back and got us a chance to win the game.”
“He pretty much goes with who’s been playing well at the time,” Russell said.
Nick Young scored 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-8 from 3-point range. Though he did not allow a recent illness to affect his aggressiveness, Lakers forward Brandon Ingram was limited to six points on 2-of-7 shooting.
“There was something off. I was surprised we were only down two at the half,” Walton said. “I didn’t feel like we were palying with the energy that I expected our guys to play with. I didn’t feel like guys were playing selfish but at the same time it wasn’t that chemistry and flow that we’re looking for.”
Two days after Walton took his players out for a hot yoga session to clear their minds, the Lakers hardly looked clear-headed on defense.
Though Walton had emphasized the need to communicate and hustle on interior defense, the Lakers still conceded 46 points in the paint. Cousins dominated against any combination of Randle, Tarik Black, Timofey Mozgov and Larry Nance Jr.
Cousins scored 16 points in the fourth quarter, including the Kings’ final 10, and grabbed an offensive rebound with nine seconds left that resulted in a foul from Larry Nance and the decisive free throw. Meanwhile, Sacramento guards Darren Collison and Ben McClemore combined for 26 points.
Cousins scored 12 points in the opening quarter when the Kings dominated in the paint, 20-8, and shot 67 percent.
More to come on this story.
Contact the writer: mmedina@scng.com
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