by Charlie O. Mallonee
The odds were against the Kings on Sunday night in Los Angeles. Sacramento had played at home on Saturday and lost to the World Champion Golden State Warriors. The chances of winning the second game of a back-to-back set on the road drop significantly in “the Association”.
Evidently, the Kings did not read any of the oddsmaker’s sites before the game because they played like they were favorites to win the game on Sunday and win they did.
With the game tied at 80 all with 39.6-seconds remaining in the game, Buddy Hield stole the ball from Caldwell-Pope. Hield finished off the fastbreak opportunity with a dunk that gave the Kings an 82-80 lead.
On the next possession, Bogdanovic made another steal when the Lakers Alex made a bad pass. The Kings set up the offense and De’Aaron Fox drove the lane putting up a seven-foot floating jump shot that gave Sacramento a four-point lead. The Lakers called an immediate timeout stopping the clock with 9.7-seconds remaining to play.
Out of the timeout, Caldwell-Pope missed a 23-foot 3-point attempt that was rebounded by Josh Hart. The ball was passed to Brooke Lopez who hit a 26-foot jumper to cut the Kings lead to just one point. Lopez immediately committed a foul to stop the clock with two-tenths of a second to go in the game but the Lakers would never regain possession.
The Kings won the game 84-83.
Top Performances
Kings (25-53)
- In what seems to an every game occurrence, Buddy Hield was the Kings leading scorer with 19 points. Hield shot 8-for-15 overall and hit 3-of-5 from downtown. He also collected four steals in the game.
- Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 15 points by sinking 6-of-7 shots from the field. He was a perfect 2-for-2 from 3-point land.
- De’Aaron Fox worked his way through a tough shooting night to score 14 points. He went 6-for-18 shooting (0-for-3 3-PT) but wound up hitting the winning bucket. Fox also led the Kings with six assists.
- Willie Cauley-Stein recorded 11 points in less than 20-minutes on the floor. He hit 5-of-8 shots and grabbed seven rebounds. Cauley-Stein also dished out four assists.
Lakers (33-43)
- Julius Randle led the way for Lakers against the Kings by scoring 19 points. He shot 5-for-8 from the floor and hit 9-of-14 chances from the free throw line.
- It took 13 shots for Caldwell-Pope to score 16 points which is not the kind of ratio a coach is looking for from a starter. He went 0-6 from behind the 3-point arc.
- Kyle Kuzma – (WARNING: EDITORIAL OPINION) the best rookie on the Lakers roster – posted 13 points hitting 5-of-16 shots from the floor and converting 3-of-9 chances from downtown. Kuzma played 39-minutes in the game.
Up Next
Sacramento
The Kings second stop this final road trip of the season will be in Phoenix on Tuesday night. This will a battle of Draft Lottery Teams. The Suns lost to the Warriors on Easter Sunday 117-107 and have now lost 15 games in a row.
Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers will travel to Salt Lake City to face the playoff-bound Utah Jazz on Tuesday night.
If the 2018 NBA Draft would be held today
Who would the Kings draft is they had to select today? According to Tankathon. com, Sacramento would have the number six selection and they would use it to take Freshman center Mohamed Bamba out of Texas. Bamba is a 7-footer who weighs 216 pounds. He will be 20 years old at the time of the draft.
Bamba played in 30 games averaging 12.9 points per game and 10.5 rebounds a game. He averaged blocking 3.6 shots per game. Bamba his known for being an excellent rebounder on both ends of the floor as well as an excellent shot blocker. He is also a strong defender against the 3-point shot.
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