The Los Angeles Lakers had their Big 3 back in the lineup but fell in a disappointing triple-overtime loss to the Sacramento Kings.
Los Angeles held a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter but watched it slip away as Sacramento made a ferocious comeback to force overtime.
The Lakers had a seven-point lead in overtime but lost that too, and L.A. eventually ran out of gas, which was evident in the number of jumpshots the players settled for.
LeBron James, in particular, shot 2-of-13 from deep despite dropping 30 points, and a good chunk of those jumpers came in the latter stages of the game.
James commented on his performance after the game and took responsibility for the poor performance.
“Obviously, I haven’t played many games. I’ve been in and out of the lineup. We still have two of our guys that haven’t played at all yet in TA (Trevor Ariza) and K-Nunn (Kendrick Nunn). Make no mistake, we still have to play Laker basketball. We still have to defend at a high level. We have to share the ball offensively and not turn the ball over.
“Obviously, tonight, horrible turnovers on my part. I feel like I played a horrible game individually, and I hold myself to a higher standard than that. I have to better for this team, especially when we’re going through what we’re going through right now out on the floor.”
James explained his shot selection and Anthony Davis’, who went 0-of-5 from deep despite finding success near the rim.
“It is a balance. I think of my 25 shots, 13 of them were threes, and the rest were in the paint besides a couple of my post moves. But that’s a high-percentage shot for me. But I always just try to play a balanced game and tonight, it just wasn’t going for myself or AD from the perimeter. But we still had opportunities to win.”
The Lakers next play the Detroit Pistons Sunday. The last time the teams squared off, LeBron and Pistons center Isaiah Stewart got into a scuffle that turned bloody, so Detroit is anticipating the final matchup of the regular season between both sides.
