New FSM Essential Recap: Lakers vs Kings- Game 39

New FSM Essential Recap: Lakers vs Kings- Game 39

Franchise Sports Media

Los Angeles Lakers (20-19)  | Sacramento Kings (16-23)

 

The Los Angeles Lakers climbed over .500 on Tuesday night, with a 122-114 win over the Kings.

 

The Los Angeles Lakers looked to keep the win streak alive, as Lebron James hopes to continue his candidacy for MVP.

De’Aaron Fox makes it look easy for the Kings on the first possession, as he sinks a jumper to start a 9-2 run for the Kings early on. Lebron James cuts for a dunk off Westbrook’s passing to stop the run. This leads to two turnovers for the Kings, one off a Westbrook steal and driving layup, while Haliburton later steps out of bounds to allow James to tie the game at 11-11 with a three.

The Lakers lose their defensive luck briefly in the 1st, however, as Buddy Hield hits a three, along with two buckets by Fox to put them up 20-15. Fox later scores again on the layup, but Malik Monk continues his fine shooting season with another 3. As the Kings lead 22-18, the 1st quarter winds down as Dwight Howard enters the game to quickly put back a missed shot with a strong dunk, which led Hield to hit his second three on the other side. Howard later found himself with either an airball or great pass by Westbrook, throwing it down with authority. Talen Horton-Tucker gets one more on the board for the Lakers as well, concluding the quarter with 6 points.

THT’s solid night continues in the 2nd, as he hits his first three in 16 previous attempts, leading to their first lead to start the quarter.  As he sits with 13 points, the game begins a back-and-forth trend as Carmelo Anthony and Howard both score, but Hield hits another three as the Kings trail 39-38. Lebron continues his consistency with two more buckets, but Howard steals the show with an alley-oop dunk off a Malik Monk assist, giving him 12 points.

Buddy Hield and Fox continue their offensive pressure, however, as Fox ends the half with 19 points, and Hield hits another three to give him four in the game. The Kings lead 59-57 at halftime, while James, Howard, and Talen Horton-Tucker combined for 38 of the 57.

 

The Lakers look to improve their shooting in the second half, as Howard’s post control has led them so far.

 

The Lakers began the second half with a strong start from Westbrook and James, but Fox continued to score, making the game close. Avery Bradley and Malik Monk both score from three, but Hield hits his fifth three as the Kings go up by four.

THT and Howard continue to impress in this one, though, as they both score to tie the game up. With two more buckets by Carmelo Anthony, the Lakers end the 3rd quarter up by two at 85-83.

The Lakers looked to build off this lead in the 4th, as Talen Horton-Tucker tied James with 17 points to start the scoring with a fade-away jumper. Lakers began to struggle on offense, however, as James and THT both turned it over, while the Kings began an 11-0 run to put them up by 7. The Lakers’ offense began to wake up, however, as they cut that deficit quickly. James posted 14 points in the quarter, and Malik Monk had 11 on 9 points from three as well.

The Lakers would go up by 6 with under a minute to go, as the bench combined to have over 40 points. The Lakers held on for the 122-114 win with good teamwork.

James led all scorers with 31 points, while Monk posted 24. Dwight Howard had himself a night for the team, posting a double-double of 14 points and 14 rebounds.

With a three-game win streak and climbing over .500 at 20-19, the Lakers continue to build their momentum. Russell Westbrook posted 19 but more notably turned the ball over 0 times. The team only had five turnovers to improve last game and head into Friday’s game against Trae Young and the Hawks with confidence.

 

The Lakers will welcome the Atlanta Hawks to Crypto.com Arena on Friday night. The game will start at 7:00 and can be seen live on ESPN.

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– Duncan Dye – Franchise Sports Media

Follow Duncan on Instagram @duncan.dye42

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