NBA

Sacramento Kings at Los Angeles Lakers

· National Basketball Association
35-26, 19-15 Away
Final
130 - 120

34-30, 22-11 Home
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De’Aaron Fox ties career high with 44 points as Kings roll to a 130-120 victory over Lakers

De'Aaron Fox ties career high with 44 points vs. Lakers

The Sacramento Kings coach might need a thesaurus with the type of season his high-scoring guard is having.

Fox tied a career high with 44 points as the Kings continued their mastery of the Los Angeles Lakers with a 130-120 victory Wednesday night. It was Fox’s seventh game this season with at least 40 points, fourth-most in the NBA.

“He was amazing. I hate using that word because to me that’s who he is,” Brown said. “It’s hard to score 44 points every single night, especially on the percentage that he did it at, but he is more than capable with his ability. It was a big game for him in a big-game environment.”

Malik Monk added 26 and Domantas Sabonis recorded his 22nd triple-double this season — and fourth in seven games — with 16 points, 20 rebounds and 12 assists as the Kings won their fourth straight over the Lakers dating to last season.

Sacramento has won six of the last seven against its Pacific Division rival and remained in seventh place in the Western Conference with a 35-26 record. The Kings are a half-game behind Phoenix for sixth and not having to take part in the play-in tournament.

“Right now where the standings are, if we lose this game, we’re half a game in front of them rather than 2 1/2 like it is now," Fox said. "So right now especially to play teams that are around us in the standings, those games mean a little more.”

LeBron James led the Lakers with 31 points and 13 assists. He came out with 3:56 remaining with the game out of hand after tweaking his left ankle. James has been listed as questionable on the injury report since the All-Star break due to the ankle.

“Some games it's better than others. I didn't feel it during the Oklahoma City game (on Monday) and I didn't feel it tonight until the fourth quarter,” he said. “Some days are better than others.”

Rui Hachimura scored 29, while Anthony Davis had 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Los Angeles (34-30) had a chance to make up ground in the conference standings, but remain in 10th.

Sacramento came in having dropped three of its last four, including a 113-109 defeat against Chicago on Monday after it had a 22-point lead late in the third quarter.

The Kings appeared early as if Monday's loss was still bothering them as they fell behind by 19 points in the first quarter. But Sacramento dominated the second quarter, outscoring LA 44-20 to take a 72-57 advantage at halftime.

“We were getting deflections and getting out in transition which was huge for us in the second quarter," Fox said. "We scored 44 points, but I think a lot of that was because of the way that we were playing defensively.”

A 3-pointer by D'Angelo Russell gave the Lakers a 37-18 advantage with 1:52 remaining in the first quarter before the Kings started to rally back.

Sacramento ended the opening 12 minutes with 10 straight points. The Kings trailed 48-40 before closing the half on a 32-9 run.

The Kings started their spurt with 10 straight points. Mitchell's 3-pointer tied it at 48 midway through the quarter before a dunk by Trey Lyles put them on top.

Sacramento was 13 of 14 from the field over the final 7:32 of the first half, including six 3-pointers. Mitchell and Fox scored nine points apiece and Monk added seven.

“They got a few easy opportunities in transition and they were able to get inside and make some tough shots. The sense of urgency we have to be able to maintain that,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “We talk about forcing our will on the game. We obviously initiated it, but we didn’t sustain it and we damn sure didn’t finish it.”

The Kings' largest lead was 22 points late in the third quarter before the Lakers closed the stanza on a 15-5 run.

The Lakers, though, were never able to get it into single digits.

UP NEXT

Kings: Host San Antonio on Thursday.

Lakers: Host Milwaukee on Friday.

Regular Season Series

SAC leads series 3-0

Matchup Prediction

Lakers: 54.9%
Kings: 45.1%
*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Recent Plays

4th 0.0 End of Game 130 - 120
4th 0.0 End of the 4th Quarter 130 - 120
4th 5.2 shot clock turnover 130 - 120
4th 27.1 Trey Lyles defensive rebound 130 - 120
4th 30.0 Jalen Hood-Schifino misses 26-foot three point pullup jump shot 130 - 120

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nba/500/sac.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originSAC https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nba/500/lal.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originLAL
54-97 FG 42-81
55.7 Field Goal % 51.9
12-31 3PT 15-32
38.7 Three Point % 46.9
10-12 FT 21-25
83.3 Free Throw % 84.0
46 Rebounds 34
9 Offensive Rebounds 3
37 Defensive Rebounds 31
32 Assists 25
8 Steals 4
2 Blocks 5
13 Turnovers 14
1 Team Turnovers 0
14 Total Turnovers 14
0 Technical Fouls 1
0 Total Technical Fouls 1
0 Flagrant Fouls 0
11 Points Conceded Off Turnovers 14
25 Fast Break Points 19
76 Points in Paint 50
23 Fouls 14
22 Largest Lead 19

Game Information

crypto.com Arena

Location: Los Angeles, CA
Attendance: 18,498 · Capacity:

2023-24 Pacific Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
LA Clippers 51 31 .622 - L3
Phoenix 49 33 .598 2 W3
LA Lakers 47 35 .573 4 W2
Sacramento 46 36 .561 5 W1
Golden State 46 36 .561 5 W1
Full Standings

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