A closeout finish, historic milestones, and six players in double figures led to an all-around win in Sacramento on Thursday for the Los Angeles Lakers, dropping the Kings 113-100 down the stretch to improve to 15-12.
“This might be my favorite win we’ve had all season,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said on the win.
Redick mentioned that the effort on the glass—with 53 rebounds and 14 offensive boards—and limiting the Kings in transition gave them the best chance to win despite an inefficient offensive night where they shot 40% overall.
Here are some takeaways from the Lakers win in Sacramento:
LeBron Passes The Captain in All-Time Regular Season Minutes
LeBron James, who passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA's all-time leading scorer last season, needed 10 minutes going into the game to pass the Hall of Famer and Lakers legend in another feat, this time for most regular season minutes (57,446) played in league history.
It was at the top of the second quarter in the Golden 1 Center when James surpassed the Captain at 57,447 minutes played to this point and counting, adding to his long list of accolades.
“It’s a pretty cool honor to be linked with some of the all-time greats to play this game,” James said. “To know I’ve been available to my teammates to do this at a high level over two decades and continue to put myself in record books in the game I love so much is pretty cool and humbling.”
His feats didn't stop from there. After finishing the road win with 19 points, James became the 13th player in franchise history to score 10,000 or more points.
Six Lakers in Double Figures
Four of the team's six double-digit scorers came from the Lakers starting unit.
Austin Reaves, who put Sacramento on their toes in the paint dealing in foul trouble attacking the paint, finished with a team-high 25 points on 50% (seven for seven) shooting from the field along with six rebounds and five assists.
Anthony Davis, who left momentarily at the end of the first quarter after re-aggravating his left shoulder, had 21 points and a season-high 18 rebounds (seven offensive). His anchoring on the defensive end contesting almost everything in the paint led to six blocks and three steals.
Rui Hachimura finished with 10 points, and James was the sixth in double figures with seven assists and six rebounds along with his scoring total.
D’Angelo Russell was the highest scorer off the bench with 16 points on a solid seven-for-15 shooting. Gabe Vincent contributed with 12 points (four for five) off the bench in 22 minutes.
Closing Out
As James posted up with his back to the basket, anticipating a double-team from the Kings, he swung the ball to an open Reaves, who drained a three-pointer to give the Lakers an 11-point lead with 4:06 remaining. The Kings never recovered.
The Lakers executed flawlessly down the stretch, scoring on four of their next five possessions to secure the victory.
The Lakers will stay in Sacramento for a two-game series, with the next matchup against the Kings set for Saturday at Golden 1 Center at 3 p.m.