After a night with few defensive stops, the Lakers lost to the Kings in overtime to fall to 1-2 on the season.

The Lakers and Kings played another entertaining game on Sunday, as they have in recent years. The Lakers lost 132-127 against the Kings due to poor defense after forcing overtime with another late comeback.

For the second straight game, Anthony Davis scored 30 points, 16 rebounds, three blocks, two steals, and two assists. LeBron James nearly had a triple-double with 27 points, 15 rebounds, and 8 assists.

Prince worked hard to meet his vow of shooting 40% from the 3-point line with 20 points on 5-13 shooting, but Austin Reaves shot a terrible 1-12 from the field to continue his dismal start.

The Lakers’ disappointing first two games continued into the third. Sacramento took an early lead and controlled the game against a Kings team prepared to аttаck Lakers weaknesses.

Austin Reaves, who battled, Һit a 3-pointer to draw the Lakers within 23-20. However, Sacramento closed the quarter on an 18-8 surge to lead 41-28 entering the second. Even though the Lakers went 26-34 from the line, early difficulties haunted them.

The lead was at double digits before a Lakers run highlighted by an AD layup trimmed it to 56-53. The Lakers again struggled in the fourth quarter, as they did last season.

Seven points in 81 seconds made a four-point contest a double-digit lead at halftime. Fox scored or assisted all three field goals.

Like last time, Taurean Prince led the Lakers to a third-quarter comeback over the Kings. Prince made successive 3-pointers to get the Lakers within one at 76-75 in his greatest game as a Laker.

Unexpectedly, the Lakers completed the quarter well and maintained a four-point lead. The Lakers took their first lead of the game after a powerful fourth-quarter surge led by Rui Hachimura in his first minutes of the season.

Rui’s second 3-pointer in 96 seconds put the Lakers ahead 91-90, and LeBron and Rui’s baskets made it 95-92.

From there, the teams traded baskets and runs till the end. Davis labored around the rim in the fourth as the Lakers kept giving up points despite his good night.

One of the quarter’s major plays was Domantas Sabonis’ foul out with little under three minutes left a loose ball foul. The Lakers couldn’t capitalize, as Sacramento led 113-106 with 90 seconds left after Gabe Vincent missed and Keegan Murray made.

D’Angelo Russell’s 3-pointer from the wing and fastbreak foul kept the Lakers alive. After Prince missed a layup, Anthony Davis knotted it.

LeBron salvaged the game with a layup after Gabe Vincent fouled 80 feet from the rim with 25 seconds left. Even though it was an open miss, the Lakers made the fourth-quarter stop to send the game to overtime.

LeBron’s 3-pointer fell out of bounds to bring the Kings within one after a Malik Monk and-one and a Kevin Huerter free throw put them up 124-120.

With Fox on the bench after twisting his ankle late in the fourth, Monk’s 3-pointer stretched the lead back to four, LeBron’s slam drew them within two, and Huerter’s 3-pointer clinched the game.

Key Takeaways

Despite much attention about the offense this season, the defense was poor on Sunday. Due to their quickness and the Lakers’ lack of it, the Kings will be a challenging opponent all season. With Jarred Vanderbilt’s ιnjury, the Lakers are missing a key defender.

Consistent breakdowns on that end of the court gave Sacramento too many clean looks, especially in overtime. Despite Reaves’ struggles, the offense won Sunday.

After an overtime game, they must play a young Magic squad at home on the second night of a back-to-back. The Lakers have many issues to fix, and games are piling up.

Monday’s game against Orlando begins at 10:30 p.m. PT on NBA TV and Spectrum Sportsnet.