The Los Angeles Lakers secured a hard-fought 113-100 win against the Sacramento Kings, a game that remained competitive until the final quarter when the Lakers pulled away through a strong defensive effort. For head coach JJ Redick, this victory held a special place, as he labeled it his favorite so far this NBA regular season.
Despite an off night offensively, the Lakers leaned on their defense to stifle a Kings team that ranks ninth in the NBA in scoring, averaging 116.1 points per game. The Lakers held them to just 100 points while shooting 40.4% from the field and 36.4% from three themselves.
After the game, Redick explained to Spectrum SportsNet why this win stood out to him. “As a group, I think this might be my favorite win we’ve had all season just because we weren’t efficient offensively, but because of our crashing, because we limited them in transition, limited them to one shot,” Redick explained. “All of the things we’ve preached that give yourselves a chance to win every night if you have an off shooting night and off offensive night, we did tonight.”
“The group was great. We had so many different contributions at different times,” Redick continued. “Max and Gabe with the offensive rebounds late, some defensive plays from Cam. Just really good stuff. AR, LeBron, AD, they were great as always.”
Keegan Murray #13 of the Sacramento Kings is guarded by LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers in the first half at Golden 1 Center. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Offensive rebounds were the difference
Redick pointed to the Lakers’ 14 offensive rebounds as a game-changing factor, especially given their shooting struggles. “I thought it gave us not just extra opportunities, it gives you life,” Redick explained. “You miss a couple shots in a row, it can be deflating.”
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He also highlighted the team’s efficiency in creating possessions. “I think we were plus-14 or 15 in scoring opportunities tonight. In terms of the possession game, we did a really good job both with our turnovers. I think we ended up with 11 pre-shot clock violations, but that was big. Between that and the crashes and our ability to just get multiple stops in a poor shooting night was huge, particularly on the road,” Redick added.
‘Playing desperate’ sparks defensive growth
The Lakers’ defensive intensity was led by Anthony Davis, who turned in a stellar performance with 20 rebounds, three steals, six blocks, 21 points, and four assists. LeBron James chipped in a balanced effort with 19 points, six rebounds, and seven assists.
Davis attributed the Lakers’ defensive improvements to the team’s heightened sense of urgency. “I talked about it yesterday after practice. We’re covering each other, playing real hard on defense, we’re talking,” Davis said. “We’re playing desperate, especially on the defensive end.”
The All-Star big man also credited recent practice sessions for fine-tuning their defensive schemes. “We’ve had some practice days to kind of go over some things that were kind of hurting us on the defensive end, and we had time to clean it up. Now it’s just translating to the court during real games,” Davis explained.
