After the Lakers opened their season with back-to-back wins for the first time since 2010, LeBron James stood in front of his locker and said that more often than not, the key to the Lakers’ season would be Anthony Davis taking the lead.
“It’s very important that he is the main focal point for us every night,” James said defiantly on Friday. “We know what he will do defensively, but offensively we have to find him in multiple places on the floor throughout the game. And we did that in two games.”
So about game three…
With the Lakers blowing a 15-point lead and the Sacramento Kings doing what they always seem to do to the Lakers now, James reminded everyone that he too can be a focal point.
In four minutes of near-perfect basketball from the 39-year-old Lakers star, he scored 14 points and assisted on two more. The play, which occurred during a 21-0 run early in the fourth quarter, pushed the Lakers to another win, this time 131-127 over the Kings.
James finished with 32 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists. His play early in the fourth quarter put the Lakers in position to beat the Kings for the first time since Jan. 7, 2023.
Read more: Dominant Anthony Davis helps Lakers erase 22-point deficit and beat Suns
And he shut out the other focal point, Davis.
As Sacramento pulled back to the James-led point, Davis re-entered the game and continued his early-season dominance. He attacked Domantas Sabonis at the rim and iced the game with a 3-pointer and a split trip to the free-throw line, his only miss in the fourth quarter of a 31-point night.
Davis and James combined for all 11 shots in the fourth quarter, combining to score 30 points in the quarter.
All five starters finished in double figures, with Rui Hachimura scoring 18 points with nine rebounds, Austin Reaves adding 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists, and D’Angelo Russell contributing 16 points and five assists.
Before the game, Lakers coach JJ Redick acknowledged that the sample size hasn’t come close to reaching meaningful levels early in the season. Still, he was encouraged by the Lakers’ low turnover.
On Saturday, the Lakers coughed it up 19 times, leading to 25 Sacramento points.
But just like in wins against Western contenders Minnesota and Phoenix, the Lakers found other ways to make things work in their favor.
On Saturday, they grabbed 13 more rebounds than the Kings and finished with four more shots, despite turning the ball over five more times than Sacramento.
And while Sabonis had a triple-double with 29 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, and De’Aaron Fox had 28 and 10 assists, the Lakers’ stars were simply better.
The Lakers now embark on a five-game trip, starting Monday in Phoenix with stops in Cleveland, Toronto, Detroit and Memphis before returning to Los Angeles.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter on all things Lakers.
This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
