Kings blow 27-point lead, hold on for win in Kobe’s Sacto farewell
Most neutrals did not anticipate much from Thursday night’s nationally televised contest between the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings at Sleep Train Arena. Apart from the spectacle of Kobe Bryant’s final game in Sacramento, where he has long been an unpopular player based on the teams’ early-’00s playoff battles, this game appeared to offer little more than the opportunity to gawk at the ever-confounding Lakers and maddeningly inconsistent Kings.
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Those low expectations made it even more thrilling to see one of the most entertaining games of the season break out in the second half. Down 90-63 with 6:13 remaining in the third quarter, the Lakers went on a 46-18 run to take the lead with just under four minutes left in regulation. That set up a back-and-forth final few minutes that featured several lead changes, two injuries to key players, and a rough turnover on one of the game’s final possessions.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of the Lakers comeback was that it featured zero points from Kobe. Although Bryant played the full third quarter, he did not attempt a shot from an errant three-pointer with 6:37 remaining until a missed lay-up at the end-of-quarter buzzer. He then sat the full fourth, when the bulk of the comeback occurred, and there was never much of a question as to whether it would be smart for him to return. The Lakers got back in this game on the strength of young, promising players like D’Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson, and Julius Randle.
Russell was especially impressive, scoring 19 of his season-high 27 points in the second half as part of a performance that will make it much more difficult for head coach Byron Scott to sit the team’s most promising rookie in 19 years in crunch time. Russell looked every bit the prospect that made him the No. 2 pick in June’s draft, getting to the rim and making good decisions with regularity. More than anything, the 19-year-old looked confident in his ability to make plays. It may have helped that the Kings defense gave him every opportunity to convert them, but Russell still showed his talent.
Unfortunately, he was unable to stay on the court for the final few minutes due to an injury sustained on one of his best plays of the night. With 2:36 left on the clock, Russell attacked the rim and finished a very nice lay-up around DeMarcus Cousins, but he came down awkwardly and stumbled into the tunnel behind the stanchion. Take a look:
Russell eventually walked off under his own power and remained on the court for nearly a minute of game time, but he left for good at the 1:46 mark and went into the locker room for treatment. Thankfully, x-rays were negative and he was diagnosed with a moderate ankle sprain. His status for Friday’s home game with the Oklahoma City Thunder has not yet been determined.
Clarkson took over the primary playmaking duties with Russell out and had a decent amount of success. His long two with 1:34 remaining broke a 113-113 tie to give the Lakers a narrow lead, and that held up until Rajon Rondo’s short bucket with just 21 ticks on the clock. That set up one last chance for the Lakers to take the lead, but Clarkson took too long to get the play going and turned it over:
DeMarcus Cousins appeared to sustain his own ankle sprain on the foul, but he made both free throws at the other end to extend the Kings lead to three points. Lou Williams missed a very tough three-point attempt after a Lakers timeout, and the hosts escaped with a 118-115 win.
The Kings will breathe a sight of relief that they came away with a meaningful win that puts them just one loss behind the Utah Jazz in the race for the West’s final playoff spot. However, their second-half troubles continued a run of disappointments that includes Wednesday’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks, which saw them blow a seven-point lead in the final 80 seconds of double overtime. There were many positives for Sacramento, especially the dominance of Cousins (29 points on 8-of-12 FG and 11-of-13 FT, 10 rebounds, seven assists) and their ability to salvage the game when the Lakers took the lead.
However, it’s arguable that they would not have had the chance to hold on against any team other than the mostly woeful Lakers. The Kings cannot seem to settle on their level, and their very real pursuit of a postseason berth seems to say more about the state of the conference than the quality of the team itself.
Meanwhile, the Lakers remain caught between an icon’s last days and a future the front office doesn’t seem motivated to start. Thursday’s game served as perhaps the best available manifestation of that dual purpose, although not necessarily in a negative way.
Until Russell’s outburst, Kobe was the unquestioned focus of the night. While he did not provide much help in the Lakers’ pursuit of a win, his line was totally respectable — a team-high 28 points on 10-of-18 shooting. He even had a pretty sweet finish on a lob from Clarkson:
Then there was everything else the Kings did to honor an old rival’s final visit to the building he knew best as Arco Arena. Like most other teams hosting Kobe for the final time, the Kings put together a tribute video. But it didn’t feature any of his highlights against the Kings so as to not incite a home crowd still upset about the Lakers’ controversial, ref-aided win over the hosts in Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals. (On the other hand, it’s not clear how the video is a final-visit tribute.) No problem, though — we have you covered on those Kobe-Kings highlights:
The organization also tweeted in reference to one of Kobe’s worst experiences in Sacramento — the time he got sick from a bad room-service cheeseburger before Game 2 of that 2002 series:
Bryant also got a chance to share a chat with Kings executives and 2002 starters Vlade Divac and Peja Stojakovic after the buzzer:
Of course, Divac isn’t just a former King — he’s also the player the Lakers traded to the Charlotte Hornets for the rights to Kobe at the 1996 NBA Draft. So Vlade gave Kobe a totally fitting gift, too:
These brief moments were more than a little overdetermined, but they’re now an established part of the Kobe Farewell Tour and not without their pleasures. Frankly, Kobe is a titanic enough figure in the league that it would be sad to see him go without this experience. The Lakers shouldn’t deny them to the organization, the player, and fans of both.
Yet Thursday’s game also proved that it’s quite possible for the Kobe goodbyes to coexist with a young team’s progress. The Lakers looked no worse off without Kobe to take tough shots in crunch time. If anything, it was invigorating to see Russell take over and other new faces make plays when it counted. As our Dan Devine noted on Twitter, the Lakers can have it both ways if they choose and almost certainly lose enough games to hold onto their top-3 protected first-round draft pick. It only takes a willingness to imagine that the two sides of their binary aren’t mutually exclusive.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
