‘Beat L.A.’: Kings complete season sweep to continue domination over Los Angeles Lakers

Older Kings fans remember how the Los Angeles Lakers broke their hearts in the 2002 Western Conference finals. Newer ones have only known domination.

The Kings completed a season sweep with another win over the Lakers on Friday night before a capacity crowd of 18,332 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. Chants of “Beat L.A.” and “Light the Beam” cascaded from the rafters as another decisive victory came into focus in the final minutes.

Kings 120, Lakers 107.

Twenty-four hours after beating the Milwaukee Bucks by 35 points, the Kings posted another impressive win to move into a tie for sixth in the Western Conference with the Phoenix Suns. The Kings have now won five in a row, eight of nine and 12 of their last 16 games against the Lakers dating back to 2020.

The Lakers have all-time NBA scoring leader LeBron James and nine-time All-Star Anthony Davis, but the Kings have a way of compiling wins against their old Southern California rivals. The reasons for this are unclear, but Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox offered a plausible explanation.

“I think our game plan when we play this team is to try to get out and run,” Fox said. “Obviously, that’s our game plan against most teams, but with how Bron and AD are getting to the basket, at times, a foul is not called and they fall down, and we have a five-on-four the other way. ... They’re not a great transition defensive team, so we try to go out there and do what we do.”

Harrison Barnes scored 12 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter for the Kings (38-27), who are a season-high 11 games over .500 after winning four of their last five, including two wins over the Lakers. Barnes went 8 of 15 from the field and 7 of 11 from 3-point range to help the Kings sweep the Lakers for the second time in franchise history.

Fox finished with 21 points, four rebounds and seven assists, passing Kings great Peja Stojakovic for fourth on the franchise scoring list in the Sacramento era. Keegan Murray had 19 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two steals while taking two charges. He went 5 of 10 from 3-point range after going 2 of 14 with a total of 23 points in the previous three games.

Domantas Sabonis recorded his league-leading 23^rd triple-double of the season with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Sabonis posted his 48^th consecutive double-double, extending his single-season franchise record. He also improved to 10-0 in career head-to-head matchups with Davis, who was selected over Sabonis as an All-Star this season.

“Just two great players battling, honestly,” Barnes said. “I’m thankful Domas is on our side because of the wins in that matchup, but any time you have two players who are among the best at their position going at it, both of them are going to raise their level of play.”

Fox offered his own perspective.

“I’ve seen the record (against Davis), but I don’t think Domas is doing anything differently than what he does on a nightly basis,” Fox said. “He’s helping us win games. It just so happens that the AD thing is a thing, but anybody who watches our games knows this is what he does every single night, so it’s not surprising.”

Keon Ellis added 14 points, eight deflections and three steals while improving to 6-0 as a starter. Ellis turned in another stellar defensive performance, holding D’Angelo Russell to six points on 2-of-9 shooting after hounding Bucks star Damian Lillard one night earlier.

“He’s done a heck of a job for a guy who was a two-way guy up until the halfway point this year,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “To get eight deflections in a game when you played 28 minutes, even if you played 48 minutes, that’s an amazing thing to do. Just a heck of a job by Keon.”

Austin Reaves had 28 points, six rebounds and four assists for the Lakers (36-31), who were coming off back-to-back wins over the Bucks and Minnesota Timberwolves. Reaves went 10 of 17 from the field and 7 of 12 from 3-point range.

Davis had 22 points on 7-of-18 shooting with 10 rebounds and three assists. Rui Hachimura scored 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting. James was held to 18 points on 6-of-16 shooting with 13 rebounds, nine assists and five turnovers.

Murray was cleared to play two hours before tipoff after missing Tuesday’s 129-94 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks with a left ankle sprain. However, guard Kevin Huerter (right leg contusion) and backup power forward Trey Lyles (left knee sprain) were ruled out, leaving Sacramento shorthanded for a key Pacific Division matchup with Western Conference playoff implications.

“It’s going to be tough because, obviously, it reduces our depth at the power forward position, and (the Lakers) play big, but their second big guy in LeBron is obviously a perimeter player,” Brown said before the game. “So, it’s not as easy to play two big guys in JaVale (McGee) and Alex (Len) or Alex and Domas as it was against Milwaukee because those guys are a little more traditional big guys, in a sense, so it does hurt us a little bit there.”

Lyles gave the Kings a nice lift off the bench with seven points and six rebounds in a 130-120 victory over the Lakers on March 6 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Huerter, Sacramento’s starting shooting guard, struggled in that game and was relegated to the bench, finishing with two points on 1-of-3 shooting in just 12 minutes of action.

Brown elected to start Ellis, an undrafted second-year player out of Alabama, for the second night in a row. Ellis started in place of Murray in Tuesday’s game against the Bucks. This time, he started in place of Huerter, giving the starting lineup added length, athleticism and defense.

“Obviously, the biggest difference when you start a guy like Keon, then it gives Foxy an opportunity to not have to take (Lillard) to start the game or to take Steph (Curry) to start the game,” Brown said.

On Tuesday, that meant putting Ellis on Lillard, who was held to 10 points on 2-of-12 shooting, well below his season average of 24.4 points per game. On Wednesday, Ellis guarded Russell, who came in averaging 18.0 points while shooting 47.1% from the field and 42.4% from 3-point range.

Ellis, who entered the game with a 5-0 record as a starter, was up to the task from the very start. He drained a corner 3-pointer to get the Kings on the scoreboard in the opening minutes and did a nice job defending Russell.

The score was tied 29-29 at end of the first period. The Kings led 60-56 following a first half that featured six ties and nine lead changes.

Ellis and Sabonis dominated their individual matchups. Sabonis finished the half with 10 points, 10 rebounds and six assists while holding Davis to seven points on 3-of-10 shooting. Ellis had 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting while holding Russell to one point on 0-of-6 shooting.

The Kings started the second half with a 10-2 run to take a 70-58 lead on a 3-pointer by Ellis. They went up by as many as 16 points in the third quarter and led 88-73 going into the fourth.

The Kings extended their lead to 17 on a basket by Fox before James came barreling down the lane for two resounding dunks. Reaves followed with a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to nine, but the Kings quickly pushed the lead back to 16 after Barnes hit three 3s in a span of 2:57.

“What a game by HB,” Brown said. “HB hit big shot after big shot after big shot.”

The Lakers made one last charge to get within 10 on a basket by Reaves with 1:20 to go, but Lakers coach Darvin Ham waved the white flag after Fox buried a corner 3 to put the Kings up 118-105 with 57 seconds remaining.

Up next

The Kings have two games remaining in their six-game homestand. They will play the New York Knicks on Saturday and the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday.

The Knicks (38-27) are fourth in the Eastern Conference, 3 ½ games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers for the No. 3 seed and a half-game ahead of the No. 5 Orlando Magic. The Knicks are coming off a 106-79 win over the Philadelphia 76ers as they prepare to open a four-game road trip against the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday.

Jalen Brunson is averaging 26.9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 6.6 assists for New York. Julius Randle averages 24.0 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists.

Upcoming schedule

March 16 vs. New York Knicks

March 18 vs. Memphis Grizzlies

March 20 at Toronto Raptors

March 21 at Washington Wizards

March 23 at Orlando Magic