Off to the franchise’s first 2-0 start since the 2010-11 season, the Los Angeles Lakers host the Sacramento Kings on Saturday for the second leg of a weekend back-to-back.
The Lakers rallied from a 22-point first-half deficit on Friday behind 35 points from Anthony Davis, 26 points and eight assists from Austin Reaves, and LeBron James’ 21 points and eight assists, beating Phoenix, 123-116.
Davis joined Jerry West and Elgin Baylor as Lakers to score 35-plus points in each of a season’s first two games. Davis finished with 36 points and 16 rebounds in Los Angeles’ 110-103, season-opening win over Minnesota on Tuesday.
Davis credited his strong start in part to first-year head coach JJ Redick’s offensive strategy, which is built around feeding the veteran big man in the post.
“I know coach wants to get me the ball early to be able to help with the offense. I’m just trying to make my shot, make big-time plays,” Davis said in his postgame interview with ESPN. “I feel great, just want to keep carrying it over all season.”
The Lakers now look to carry over their best start in 14 years into a matchup with an opponent that swept them a season ago. Sacramento took all four matchups with Los Angeles in the 2023-24 campaign, including two in which the Kings limited Davis to nine and 14 points.
Sacramento returns to action on Saturday after it dropped a 117-115 heartbreaker to Minnesota in the Kings’ season opener on Thursday. Malik Monk, who scored 17 points off the bench, gave the Kings a 115-114 lead when he converted a three-point play in the final minute.
However, Minnesota drained three free throws down the stretch, including a pair after De’Aaron Fox missed a would-be, go-ahead jumper.
Fox, Sacramento’s leading scorer a season ago with 26.6 points per game, finished with 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the floor in the season-opening loss. He remained a key part of the offense against Minnesota, however, dishing out 11 assists.
The game against Minnesota was Sacramento’s first with a new-look starting lineup after the offseason addition of three-time All-NBA selection DeMar DeRozan.
DeRozan scored a team-high 26 points in his Kings debut, but shot 7-of-18 from the floor. He was 0-for-2 from 3-point range as Sacramento attempted 29 shots from beyond the arc – 10 fewer than the team’s 2023-24 per-game average.
“You have another guy that commands to touch the ball a little bit more. And you could see, DeMar had some pretty good looks, especially early on, that he turned down,” Kings coach Mike Brown said in his postgame press conference.
“His game is the mid-range,” Brown said. “He’s an elite mid-range guy.”
Domantas Sabonis scored 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Sabonis set a post-ABA merger league record with 61 consecutive double-doubles last season.
Keegan Murray, meanwhile, delivered a double-double of 23 points and 11 rebounds in Thursday’s loss. Murray shot 5-of-10 from 3-point range, accounting for almost half of Sacramento’s 11 made 3-pointers as a team.
–Field Level Media
