The Lakers and Kings both entered Saturday night’s matchup among the NBA’s top-four scoring teams, but it was defense that allowed L.A. to overwhelm its northern neighbors.
The purple and gold held Sacramento 32 points below their season average, suffocating the Kings in a 101-86 victory.
“We won the game tonight with our defense — that was it,” coach Luke Walton said. “We’ve been seeing the progress, but it was really good to see a full game of it.”
Sacramento entered the game ranked third in both field goal and 3-point percentage, but came up dry in both departments, hitting just 34.