LA Holds on to Sacramento in Final Seconds

Although the Lakers played a promising first half against the Sacramento Kings Wednesday night at home, L.A. fell short within the last seconds of the game. Besides the roaring energy in Crypto Arena, the Kings defeated the Lakers 116-111 after a nail biting fourth quarter.

After the game, Coach Darvin Ham said, “the key ingredients to us not coming out with the ‘W’ is we gave up too many second chance points early on. We got up against the clock a little bit, little too much indecisiveness...It sucks to lose these close games.”

Lebron James led the team with 32 points, closing the gap on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's all-time NBA scoring record. James has less than 300 points to go to claim the title.

James dominated the court and passed his high energy to the rest of the team despite the injuries of Anthony Davis, Lonnie Walker IV, and Austin Reaves. During the postgame press conference, James said the team has “no room for error” due to the injuries on the team, and “just being aware” can help their offense in key moments.

Russell Westbrook helped James put up a solid fight against the Kings with 19 points, five assists and seven rebounds. During the fourth quarter with about 5 minutes to spare, a determined Westbrook tied the score at 103 as he broke through a wall of three Kings players blocking him at the basket.

Within the last two minutes of the game, James was fouled while the score was 107-108. Sacramento was holding onto the lead with a thread. During James’ free throws, the energy of the arena could swallow you up whole. The volume of fans screaming “MVP” for James was unmatched.

When asked about the amount of energy in the arena during the postgame interview, James said, “I’m just very appreciative that I've been in quite a few buildings in my career when I've heard MVP chants. I think it’s very humbling...being able to put in the work and people appreciate what you bring to the table by the way you approach the game...I’m always trying to be as great as I can be every single night.”

Aside from the Lakers motivated efforts, the Kings made it out on top in the end when a clear path foul was called against L.A. Sacramento officially closed the nerve-racking gap with free throws.

In the postgame interview, Coach Ham kept hopes high for the team. “I still feel wholeheartedly that at some point we are going to break all the way through. We are competing at a very high level... guys are doing their part; they are trying to step up and make plays...that's all you can ask for is to be competitive and be together.”