Despite having their two biggest stars on the bench, the Los Angeles Lakers still carved out a win over the Sacramento Kings. As good as Austin Reaves played, the Kings ultimately beat themselves. Their overall game can be defined by the word sloppy, particularly in the first half.
Walking into their game against the Lakers, the Kings had a loss to the Suns and a win over the Jazz. Sacramento definitely wanted this one badly to help push their season in the right direction. Having a two-and-one start would have set a positive tone for them. That didn't happen.
The Lakers played a great game, particularly Austin Reaves, who had the best game of his career to date. He scored 51 points, the most he has ever gotten in one game, and was one assist away from a triple-double. It was pretty impressive to watch, even for the Kings' fans.
It's not like the Kings played terribly. Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Malik Monk, Domantas Sabonis, Dennis Schroder, and Russell Westbrook were all in double digits. LaVine was, once again, the top scorer on the Kings with 32 points. But scoring wasn't the problem. It rarely is for the Kings.
The Kings get sloppy
While the Kings managed to stay competitive, they should have done better. The Lakers were playing reasonably well without LeBron James and Luka Doncic, but they weren't really dominating the Kings. They won because the Kings were incredibly sloppy, particularly in the first half.
Too many fouls. Too many turnovers. Too many free throws. It wasn't a good showing for the Kings in that regard. By the end of the game, the Lakers shot 46 free throws to the Kings' 18. Fouls weren't really much better, with the Lakers committing 17 and the Kings sitting at 26.
The Kings were at their sloppiest in the first half. It seemed like they couldn't go a minute without a foul or a turnover. Things got better in the second half, particularly in the fourth quarter, but it was too little, too late at that point. The Lakers were on a roll and held on to win the game.
Again, the Lakers shot 46 free throws, 22 of which were personally shot by Reaves. This ground the game to a halt, making it impossible for the Kings to get into any kind of groove defensively. It's hard to win games when the other team collects 41 points off your mistakes.