The Los Angeles Lakers played the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night in a game that had significant standings implications with only a few games left in the regular season.

This season, the Kings had already beaten the Lakers in both of their prior meetings; in the second quarter, Sacramento’s dominance continued as they won 130–120.

The Lakers led early in this game thanks to five points from Austin Reaves and a three-pointer from LeBron James. Following that, D’Angelo Russell drained a long 3-pointer, and Anthony Davis added another to give Los Angeles an early 16-7 lead.

After that, the Lakers increased their lead to 30-13 with consecutive points from Rui Hachimura and a long-range jumper from Spencer Dinwiddie as they continued to apply pressure.

De’Aaron Fox picked up steam towards the end of the quarter, though, and the Kings went on a rampage to cut their deficit to 37-28.

In the second quarter, Sacramento’s lead narrowed to six points, forcing the Lakers to request a timeout.

Following that, James’ amazing poster slam and Taurean Prince’s 3-pointer gave the Lakers a boost. Malik Monk did a terrific job coming off the bench to inspire the Kings, who went on to gradually establish a 50-48 lead despite the Lakers struggling to score points.

The Kings never looked back after that, going on to make three triples and grab a double-digit lead of their own. Fox and Monk attacked various players in turn for the duration of the second quarter, giving the impression that the Lakers defence could not stop them. Fox beat the halftime buzzer, and the Lakers went into the locker room behind 72–57.

Sacramento extended their lead to twenty points at the start of the third quarter, and the Lakers swiftly responded with six straight victories. Still, the Kings’ supremacy persisted following a shrewd timeout call by Fox. After committing his fourth foul, Davis was banished to the bench, which made it simple for Fox to get to the hoop.

The Lakers looked like a cohesive one towards the conclusion of the third quarter when James attacked the rim to cut the margin to 12 points. The Lakers were down 104-92 going into the fourth quarter, and they were still down at the end of the third.

When James entered the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Kings quickly widened their lead to 17. LeBron returned for a last-minute drive, and the Lakers managed to trim the advantage to 12 with roughly five minutes left.

But following the break, the Kings rallied and easily won the match.