by Jessica Kwong

AP Photo by Jae C Hong of LA Clips Blake Griffin fouled by the Sac Kings Ben McLemore

LOS ANGELES-It was a thrill of a game Halloween night at Staples Center with the Sacramento Kings coming close to avenging their season opener loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Kings, newly competitive with Rajon Rondo on a one-year contract, lead the Clippers several times in the first half but trailed for most of the second half, and after rallying in the fourth quarter fell 114-109 to Los Angeles, who they lost to three days earlier at Sleep Train .

With 15 seconds left in the game on Saturday, the Kings’ Marco Belinelli scored a 21-foot turnaround fade away jump shot to close the Clippers’ lead to 112-109. After Los Angeles’ JJ Redick made two free throws, though, Rudy Gay missed a tip lay-up and the clock ran out.

Kings Head Coach George Karl said his team “played great early” and a good attitude and energy but had “no flow” in the second quarter because the Clippers kept going to the free throw line. Sacramento got in the flow for the second half, he said, but couldn’t come out on top.

“Just a disappointment you know, disappointment that we couldn’t win a big game,” Karl said. “In general, they are a very tough team for us to play at this moment and I think we have played them twice pretty well.”

Rondo, the leading scorer for Sacramento with 21 points, said the Clippers managed to stay on top in the second half by “making a bunch of free throws” – 17 out of 25 attempts.

“They slowed the game down and they were the more aggressive team, I believe, and they got back into the game,” Rondo said. “They closed quarters better than us and I think that’s the next step for us, is closing the quarters and closing the game.”

Blake Griffin dominated the game for the Clippers, scoring 37 points and making 11 out of 15 free throws. Los Angeles, with a 3-0 record has a new mindset coming into the season, the forward said.

“From the start of training camp, we always talked about doing the little things like not wasting any time,” Griffin said in live interview on court after the game. “We’ve had a rough road and learned a lot of lessons over the last four or five years.”

Griffin also acknowledged the Kings appear to be a stronger team than they have been in recent seasons.

“To get off to a good start and beat a good team like (the Kings) is important for us,” he said.

A positive for the Kings Saturday night, Rondo said, was that they “stayed with it.” Improving will come down to learning from film and continuing to grow as a team, he said.

“We scored over 100 points in the last three games,” Rondo said. “We need to find a way to get stops down the stretch when it counts.”

The Kings, 1-2, return to Sacramento on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. game against the Memphis Grizzlies.