Lakers player grades: L.A. gets humiliated by De’Aaron Fox and the Kings

The Los Angeles Lakers had a golden opportunity on Wednesday to gain ground in the Western Conference standings. They faced the Sacramento Kings, who came in two spots and 1.5 games ahead of them in seventh place, and it was a game they really needed to win in order to have a good shot at avoiding the play-in tournament.

Early on, things looked good for them. The Lakers were scorching in the opening minutes of the game, as they opened up a 37-18 lead with the help of a stout defense and their running game. But Sacramento instantly responded with 10 unanswered points, and it led 72-57 at halftime by hitting 3-pointers in bunches and connecting on 14 straight shots overall. De’Aaron Fox was seemingly unstoppable, and its bench severely outplayed the Lakers’ reserves.

Things never really got better for Los Angeles. At times, it was its own worst enemy, as it had a number of inexcusable defensive breakdowns, not to mention careless, unforced turnovers. The 130-120 final score was not indicative of how lopsided this loss was for the Purple and Gold.

Oddly enough, the Lakers outshot Sacramento from 3-point range, going 15-of-32 from that distance compared to 12-of-31 for Fox’s crew while also holding a 25-12 advantage in free throw attempts. But they got outrebounded by 12 and outscored 26-19 in fast-break points and 76-50 in the paint. Their offense after the first quarter was slow, stilted and individualistic, while the Kings consistently looked to run and got into their offense with pace, initiative and purpose without much defensive resistance.

The Lakers have now fallen back into 10th place in the West. They only have themselves to blame not only for this loss but also for the difficult situation they’re in overall this season.

Davis got off to a slow start, making just one of his first seven shot attempts, and he had two turnovers in the opening minutes of this game. He got his second foul near the end of the first quarter and headed to the bench shortly afterward, and that was right when things started to turn upside-down for L.A.

He was never able to find his game at all. He shot just 5-of-13 from the field to score 14 points, and he seemed to have trouble with the physicality of Domantas Sabonis on both ends of the floor.

Sabonis had a triple-double with 16 points, 20 rebounds and 12 assists while shooting 7-of-13. This was one of the few times this season Davis not only played poorly but also allowed himself to get thoroughly outplayed by his opposite number.

Hachimura did just about all he could to give Los Angeles a chance to win. He shot a sizzling 13-of-17 and scored 29 points, which was his second-highest scoring output of this season. He also added two rebounds and two steals in 33 minutes.

Reaves hit his first three shots to help the Lakers get off to a strong start. But afterward, he almost couldn’t buy a bucket. He shot just 6-of-15, and although at times he was competing hard, it just wasn’t his night.

Defensively, he wasn’t able to do anything to slow down Fox. The Kings’ star guard tied his career-high with 44 points on 19-of-32 shooting, 32 of them coming in the paint, and it seemed as if he could get any shot he wanted in any type of situation.

Like Reaves, Russell started off well by connecting on each of his first three shot attempts. But that would do it for him as far as making baskets. He finished just 3-of-10 and scored 10 points, and he didn’t contribute much in other areas. He had just three assists, which is low for him, while committing three turnovers.

James had a modest 12 points in the first half. He tried to inspire a comeback attempt by getting aggressive in the third quarter, but it simply didn’t work. Statistically, he did well with 31 points on 10-of-16 shooting while making all 10 of his free throw attempts, and he also had 13 assists and five rebounds.

With 3:56 left in the fourth quarter, James exited the game and immediately walked to the locker room while grimacing a bit. He said after the game that the ankle ailment he has been playing on for much of the season acted up and that he was OK.

Dinwiddie helped out offensively by hitting two of his three attempts, all of which were 3-point attempts, and scored eight points in 24 minutes. He also tried his hand at guarding Fox, but like his teammates, he failed.

The veteran guard had been doing a solid job of distributing the ball and finding open teammates since joining the Lakers. But on Wednesday, he mustered only one assist. The Lakers as a team had a decent 25 assists, but Sacramento had 32 dimes, as the ball was moving for it much more than it was for the Lakers.

Like Dinwiddie, Prince also went 2-of-3 from the field, with all three attempts coming from beyond the arc. He also had two blocked shots, with one of them coming on a dunk attempt by Alex Len late in the third quarter.

In 11 minutes, Christie made a decent effort on both ends of the floor. He went 1-of-2 from downtown and added two rebounds and one assist.

Hayes helped out on the boards with five rebounds while blocking one shot in 13 minutes. However, his positional defense on Sabonis was poor, and he scored just one point on a free throw while missing his lone shot attempt.

All three players went scoreless while getting one minute of playing time each at the end of the game. Hood-Schifino missed his only shot attempt, while neither Giles nor Lewis got off a single shot.