A Royal Pain
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Highs and Lows: Sacramento Kings Defeat Rival Lakers

By Rafe Wong

Dec 12, 2016; Sacramento, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Nick Young (0) controls the ball against Sacramento Kings guard Ben McLemore (23) during the first quarter at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 12, 2016; Sacramento, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Nick Young (0) controls the ball against Sacramento Kings guard Ben McLemore (23) during the first quarter at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Sacramento Kings defeated the Los Angeles Lakers tonight by a score of 116-92. Scroll down to check out the highs and lows that happened for the purple and white in tonight’s game.

Highs

1-2 Punch (Darren Collison/DeMarcus Cousins): With Rudy Gay leaving the game early due to a hip injury, the Kings needed to find another high-volume scorer to pair up with Cousins. Fortunately for the Kings, they had Darren Collison who finished the game scoring 20 points on 7-11 shooting from the floor. As expected, DeMarcus Cousins dominated in tonight’s game as he recorded 31 points and 16 rebounds.

Dec 12, 2016; Sacramento, CA, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Garrett Temple (17) saves the ball from going out of bounds during the second quarter of the game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 12, 2016; Sacramento, CA, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Garrett Temple (17) saves the ball from going out of bounds during the second quarter of the game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports /

Dominating 3rd Quarter: After having a sluggish first half, Sacramento was able to outscore their division foe by a score of 39-13 in the third period. The third quarter ended up being the turning point for the Kings tonight, as their dominance to start the second half carried on until the clock hit triple zeros to end the game.

Spark Plugs Off The Bench: As a collective group, the Kings’ bench did a solid job in scoring 48 points for the game. The two players mainly responsible for the bench’s success tonight were Omri Casspi and Garrett Temple. Casspi was an offensive asset tonight for the Kings as he finished the game with 13 points on 6-10 shooting from the court. Garrett Temple was more of an asset on both ends of the floor as he scored 16 points for the game while playing great defense.

Lows

Injuries: Despite the win tonight, the Kings did lose two rotation players in Rudy Gay (hip) and Ben McLemore (leg) due to injuries. Fortunately, Omri Casspi and Garrett Temple rose to the occasion in replacing their teammates and helped the Kings finish with a win. Hopefully Rudy and Ben have speedy recoveries.

Free Throw Shooting: The Kings struggle yet again in making shots from the charity stripe. To finished tonight’s game, Sacramento recorded a free-throw percentage of 57.1. Luckily, their struggles shooting free-throws didn’t cost them tonight, but they will need to solve it going forward.

Defending The Three: A big part of why the Kings trailed in the first half of tonight’s game was because of their struggles defending the perimeter. The Lakers finished the game recording a three-point percentage of 43.5. To give the Kings credit, their perimeter defense sharpened up once the second half was in session.

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