LOS ANGELES_For a moment, the lane to the basket was open. Anthony Davis closed it quickly.
The All-Star forward stonewalled Harrison Barnes' drive on a game-tying layup attempt at the buzzer as the Lakers held on for a 99-97 win over the Sacramento Kings at Staples Center on Friday.
The Lakers (10-2) overcame the loss of defensive stalwart Avery Bradley, who will miss the next one to two weeks with a hairline fracture in his right leg, to hold the Kings to less than 100 points for the first time since Oct. 28. The Kings, who started the season with five straight losses, had won four of their past five games entering Friday's matchup.
Coached by former Lakers coach Luke Walton, the Kings tied the game late with a layup from Bogdan Bogdanovic, but LeBron James hit the game-winning free throws with 5.5 seconds remaining. The 34-year-old forward finished with 29 points and 11 assists, at times seeming to rewind the clock.
James smashed a right-handed tomahawk dunk over Nemanja Bjelica in the first half and stared down the Kings forward with an icy look afterward. He flexed both arms while lying on the court after scoring a layup through traffic in the third quarter and skipped up the floor after a three-pointer in the fourth. When jogging after nailing a fade-away mid-range jumper, James reached out for a high-five from former teammate J.R. Smith, who was sitting courtside. They missed each other.
James connected at the most important moment, though, as he hit two free throws with 5.5 seconds to go after Bogdanovic had scored the game-tying layup just seconds before. Despite Lakers guard Alex Caruso's attempts to silence the crowd, fans serenaded James at the free throw line with chants of M-V-P.
Without Bradley, the Lakers fell behind by 13 at one point in the first half. The Kings rained three-pointers. The Lakers missed their first six shots from deep.
It was a three-pointer from Kyle Kuzma that sparked a Lakers second-quarter comeback. The forward contributed five straight points to a 14-0 run that turned a 13-point deficit into a brief one-point lead. Kuzma finished the first half with 13 points, including 10 in the second quarter.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope started in place of the injured Bradley, but lasted less than four minutes before getting replaced by Caruso. Caldwell-Pope played only nine minutes in the first half, but broke out in the fourth quarter for 12 of his season-high 16 points.
