Minus key piece, Lakers out to shore up defense vs. Kings
One team eager to show off a new weapon and another beginning a stretch without one of its big guns go head-to-head Sunday night when the Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Lakers duel in Southern California.
The Kings and Lakers met once earlier this season, but a whole lot has changed since Los Angeles pulled out a 127-120 road win in October.
Playing without star sidekicks LeBron James and Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves exploded for 51 points in that win, nearly completing a triple-double with 11 rebounds and nine assists.
Reaves has gone for 20 or more points 17 times this season, leading Los Angeles to 14 victories in those games. But he strained his left calf in the Lakers' Christmas Day home loss to the Houston Rockets, and a subsequent MRI detected damage worthy of at least a four-week recovery period.
The Lakers' loss to the Rockets was their third in a row. They've allowed 132 and 119 points in their last two defeats, prompting coach JJ Redick to criticize his players for a lack of defensive effort and calling for a team meeting Saturday.
Doncic admitted to reporters he got the message.
"Everybody's got to give a better effort, starting with me," he said. "All five of us on the floor need to be locked in. It's not gonna take one guy or two guys or three guys. It's going to take all five to be great."
Added Deandre Ayton: "It's adversity; it's going to happen. I just can't wait to see how we bounce back from this."
The Lakers will play their next four games at home, where they've also lost three in a row.
A visit from Sacramento might not be what the doctor ordered. While the Kings have lost 10 of 13, it hasn't been for a lack of scoring.
Russell Westbrook has topped 20 points in three straight games while DeMar DeRozan has had 27- and 37-point outings in the last three, during which the Kings have averaged 122.7 points while going 2-1.
Coincidentally, the lowest scoring of three outings occurred in a 113-107 home win over the Mavericks on Saturday in one of Sacramento's best defensive efforts of the season.
Like his Lakers counterpart, Kings coach Doug Christie has found himself looking for defensive answers, and he believes he might have found one in rookie big man Dylan Cardwell.
A two-way player, the undrafted college star spent much of the early season in the G League, but has been promoted to play an average of 21.2 minutes off the bench in the Kings' last five games. He was a big factor defensively in Saturday's win, accumulating eight rebounds, two blocks and a steal in 21 minutes.
"He's extremely coachable, plays extremely hard, and has a level of physicality you don't teach," Christie said.
Cardwell played just his second NBA game in the earlier meeting with the Lakers, compiling three rebounds, a steal and a block in 13 minutes.