The second of back-to-backs has been a problem for the Kings. That continued in L.A.
The Kings completed the 12th of their 14 back-to-back sets Sunday. In three of those, they’ve faced a Lakers team which had not played the previous night.
If not for a buzzer-beating 3-pointer in one of those meetings, the Kings would have lost in all of those instances.
Marvin Bagley III had 25 points and 11 rebounds Sunday night, but the Kings couldn’t complete a rally from 17 points down and fell 111-106 to the Lakers at Staples Center. They pulled to within two with 16.6 seconds left, but didn’t get any closer.
LeBron James had a triple-double (29 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists), and Kyle Kuzma also scored 29 points to lead the Lakers (32-41).
The Kings (36-37) fell to 3-9 on the second night of a back-to-back series. They’ve only won both games once this season, emerging victorious in Orlando and Miami on Oct. 29-30 to sweep the Florida teams on their floors for just the second time in franchise history.
The Kings fell to 1-3 against the Lakers this season. What went wrong Sunday?
“Lack of energy and miscommunication,” said Kings guard Buddy Hield, who made five 3-pointers and finished with 18 points. “You can’t say we were tired. They played at a higher level than us tonight, there’s no excuse.”
Bagley said a change of focus could help the Kings in these types of contests.
“I notice in back-to-backs, we start off slow,” he said. “I think if we don’t see it as a back-to-back and just come play, we can get out to leads and maintain them.”
When the Kings beat the Lakers on Dec. 27 at Golden 1 Center with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Bogdan Bogdanovic, they lost the previous night to the other Los Angeles team at Staples Center, falling 127-118 to the Clippers.
The Kings have two more back-to-backs this season: March 30-31 at Houston and San Antonio, and April 4-5 with a home game against Cleveland followed by a trip to Utah.
Hield relishes the challenge.
“I like back-to-backs. I like playing, it’s fun,” he said, adding, “it’s something we’ve got to get better at.”
The Kings travel to Dallas for the second game of this five-game trip Tuesday. They beat the Mavericks on Thursday in Sacramento.
This story was originally published March 24, 2019 at 9:11 PM.