Lakers - Kings: Why Kentavious Caldwell-Pope's 4th-quarter explosion was so important

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 12 points in the fourth quarter, which helped Lakers win game, but also sent a strong message to LeBron and (...)

The Lakers held off the Sacramento Kings on Friday night, winning a nail-biter 99-97 and improving to 10-2 on the year. While the final play came down to an Anthony Davis block, and LeBron James iced the game with two key free throws, the star for Los Angeles down the line was … Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

Seriously. That guy!

With the Kings keyed in on the two All-Stars, KCP got aggressive in the fourth, finishing with 12 points in the quarter alone and giving the Lakers huge buckets when they needed them.

For one stretch, starting at 5:29 in the fourth, Caldwell-Pope scored four consecutive buckets for the Lakers, concluding with a huge 3-pointer that gave LA a 93-90 lead.

KCP. Of all people!

This is big for the Lakers, and not just because it gave them a nice win. KCP’s performance sent a message to his teammates that he will be aggressive when he needs to be.

As LeBron James has shown on multiple trips to the finals, he can’t just do it alone, and this league is so good at the top that it’s hard to do it with only two people.

James and Davis need people around them to step up and contribute offensively. Dwight Howard has finally started playing well by focusing on his defense and dunking the ball, but he can’t (and shouldn’t) do much more than that. (It also helps that he stopped eating 24 candy bars a day, but I digress.)

Kyle Kuzma can score a bit when called on, and Danny Green can hit an open 3. If the Lakers want to go far, though, they’ll need players like KCP and Avery Bradley to take (and make) open jumpers when called upon.

James has always made it clear that he wants his teammates playing aggressively, and he’s only really run into trouble with teammates when they start playing passively or refuse to attack when called upon. KCP attacked on Friday night, basically because the Kings dared him to.

Making those four shots is going to do a lot to help this Lakers team — not only because those shots gave them a win, but because it showed James that KCP wasn’t afraid to take them.