Kings vs. Lakers: Score, Highlights, Reaction from 2017 Regular Season
DeMarcus Cousins willed the Sacramento Kings to a 97-96 road win over the Los Angeles Lakers Tuesday night in the Staples Center.
The Kings surrendered a 13-point fourth-quarter lead, but their All-Star center came through with the go-ahead free throw with nine seconds left to help his team come away with its fourth win in a row. The Kings improved to 24-32 on the season while the Lakers fell to 19-38 in their first home game in two weeks.
Cousins was easily the best player on the floor, finishing with 40 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists and an impressive plus-19.
Even this big dunk by Kosta Koufos featured Cousins outworking his opponent:
Ben McLemore and Darren Collison provided the most help with 13 points each.
The Kings pounded the ball inside for the early lead, explicitly going against the game plan, per Serena Winters of Lakers Nation:
Cousins was unsurprisingly a big part of that, scoring 12 points in what became a 29-23 first-quarter advantage for Sacramento. The team shot 63.2 percent in the quarter, although none was easier than this basket from the All-Star:
The Lakers struggled to shoot as well as their counterpart, but they never let that cause them to fall too far behind in the first half. Both sides struggled offensively in a second quarter that featured just 32 points combined, although it remained close as the Kings took just a 43-41 lead into halftime.
Los Angeles utilized impressive balance to stay in the game with 10 different players scoring in the first half but no one topping seven points.
Although the shooting remained poor, these types of plays helped L.A. stay competitive:
Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News described the offense as the second half progressed:
The Lakers finished the game shooting 45.8 percent, although that mark was under 40 percent for much of the night until a hot final few minutes.
Sacramento finally found some separation in the third quarter thanks to a 9-0 run to go up 68-57, although the home team kept fighting to remain in it. A few big shots by Lou Williams helped the Lakers stay within striking range at 70-64 heading into the fourth quarter.
After the Kings built up another double-digit lead at 79-66, Los Angeles came storming back with a 13-0 run to tie things up once again.
Williams remained hot, scoring 19 of his 29 points in the fourth. Cousins kept getting points, but so did the Lakers guard, who tied the game at 96-96 with this three-pointer:
However, the Cousins free throw was the difference when Williams missed the possible game-winner off the backboard. Although the Kings only shot 7-of-24 from three-point range and had 17 turnovers, they did enough to survive for the win.
Sacramento will have a much tougher test in its next road game. It will take on the Golden State Warriors Wednesday, a team that is 23-3 at home so far this season and is looking to avenge its loss to the Kings earlier this month.
After finally returning home, the Lakers go right back on the road for their next game against the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday.
Postgame Reaction
Lakers forward Larry Nance Jr. was hard on himself after the game, where he struggled to defend Cousins in the final minutes:
"He's strong. He's big and he can score around the rim," Lakers guard Nick Young said of the Kings center, per Ryan Ward of Lakers Nation. "It's a tough matchup for anybody."
When Cousins was asked what he was thinking when he sees single coverage, he simply responded, "Feed me," per Jovan Buha of ESPN.
It's clear Nance was simply overmatched in this scenario.
