By Jessica Kwong

AP photo: The Los Angeles Lakers Yi Jianlian puts the pressure on the Sacramento Kings DeMarcus Cousins in the first half at the Honda Center on Tuesday night in NBA pre season action

 ANAHEIM – The Sacramento Kings started their first preseason game Tuesday night as the aggressors but come the second half, the young, Kobe-less Los Angeles Lakers ran through them and took a 103-84 win at Honda Center.

 Sacramento guarded well and lead throughout the first half, by as many as 13 points by halftime. The second half “was definitely a different half,” Kings head coach Dave Joerger said.

 The Kings extended their lead in the third quarter, taking a 19-point lead when forward Anthony Tolliver made a slam dunk, but the Lakers reduced their lead to 5 points at the end of the quarter.

 Not too long into the final quarter, the Lakers’ Tarik Black made a layup and was fouled to tie the game at 69 points. With the free throw, the home team took their first lead of the game. Shortly after, Black stole the ball and made another layup, giving the Lakers a 73-69 lead. The crowd exploded. The rest was history.

 Los Angeles shot 27 free throws in the second half.

 “What that speaks to is the level of aggressiveness. They were the aggressors and they were just more physical than we were and they just ran through us,” Joerger said. “They’re much improved.”

 Asked what positives he saw in the Kings’ offense in the first half, Joerger said, “I don’t know.”

 “It’s a game, it’s not about one half or the other half. Overall we got beat by (19). We put up 84 points,” the head coach said, “So not real impressive.”

 Guard Arron Afflalo, who scored the most points, 14, for the Kings, was a bit more optimistic about the preseason start, but admitted that Joerger had been pushing for good defense and that didn’t materialize.

 “I thought it was good. I mean, obviously we have some guys that need to learn to maintain the defensive intensity throughout four quarters,” Afflalo said. “I thought we moved the ball well as a team, I thought we played well together, so we’ll just continue to learn as a group.”

 Afflalo said the Kings have some “pretty good creatives” – Rudy Gay, DeMarcus Cousins, Ty Lawson and Darren Collison – he thinks can play intensive defense. He added that his own focus this year is going to “be ready to shoot.”

 “We’re all competitors. We want to play some good (basketball),” Afflalo said. “We’ve got some pretty tough preseason games that we’ll try to take full advantage of.”

 The Kings play their second preseason game on Thursday against the Golden State Warriors at SAP Center. Tip off is at 7:30 p.m.