SACRAMENTO — Sacramento Kings fans chanted ‘light the beam’ as they watched Los Angeles Lakers fans hit the exit early as the Kings got the upper hand on the Lakers in their 124-112 victory at a sold out Golden 1 Center on Monday, Jan. 12.
The Kings now have won back-to-back games for the first time since November.
Sacramento was led by veteran guard DeMar DeRozan, who scored 32 points on 14-of-19 shooting. Kings guard Malik Monk had 26 points and eight assists in 31 minutes coming off the bench. He scored 18 points in the half.
Monk has been in and out of the rotation with fluctuating playing time.
However, lately he has seen his playing time increase following the three-game suspension the NBA handed to Dennis Schroder following his feud with Luka Doncic.
Monk refuses to let that faze him, as he remains focused on what he can contribute to the team.
‘I want to play 48 minutes a night, man, always,’ Monk told USA TODAY Sports after their win. ‘Whether I’m out there or not, I’m always going to bring energy, I’m always going to smile and always teach the young guys. It doesn’t matter what’s going on.’
Russell Westbrook tallied 22 points and seven assists and Zach LaVine added 19 points.
Westbrook played one of his former teams for the second night in a row. He told USA TODAY Sports that although his play remains the same, he does enjoy knocking off his old teams.
‘I play the same way every night,’ Westbrook said. ‘But I do enjoy beating teams that I was formerly at for different reasons. Tonight was a different reason, Houston was a different reason. I definitely enjoy taking care of business against them.’
Luka Doncic had a game-high 42 points for the Lakers; 26 of those points were scored in the first half. LeBron James added 22 points. Deandre Ayton notched a double-double 13 points and 13 rebounds.
Kings vs. Lakers highlights
Game recap
Lakers got out to an early lead behind the play of Luka Doncic and LeBron James. James scored eight points in six minutes. Doncic added 11 points in the opening quarter.
The Kings weren’t fazed. They hung around as DeMar DeRozan led with eight points in the first quarter. Zach LaVine had seven points. Sacramento maintained a, 32-28, lead going into the second quarter.
Malik Monk came off the bench for Sacramento and provided instant offense for his squad.
It was all Monk in the second period, he scored 18 in the quarter on 6-of-7 shooting, including five made 3-point field goals.
Monk got things going with a pair of consecutive 3-pointers. He extended the Kings’ lead to seven points, with under nine minutes in the game.
A couple of minutes later, Monk hit his third deep field goal of the quarter, increasing the Kings’ lead to 10. Sacramento led 43-33 with 6:49 left in the second quarter.
He got the Kings up by 12 with under seven minutes left in the first half. Sacramento led by as many as 16 points in the first half.
The Lakers cut into the lead before going into the locker room at half time. Doncic made a 3 just before the half-time buzzer sounded, getting DeRozan off his feet and leaning in and floating it in with 0.9 seconds. He had 26 first half points for the Lakers.
Kings led 61-54 at the half.
Second half
Sacramento tried to put their third quarter woes behind them as they went on a 15-5 run out of halftime break.
Kings grew their lead to as high as 19 points, leading the Lakers, 82-63.
Los Angeles scored on back-to-back buckets to cut into the deficit. The Kings led 84-69 with under five minutes in the third quarter.
Kings received steady scoring throughout the period. Russell Westbrook had 13 in the quarter; DeRozan scored 11.
Doncic scored 14 points in the third quarter to keep the Kings from running away with the game. After the period, Sacramento led 95-83.
In the final period, the Lakers looked to make a push. They cut their deficit to within 10 points early in the fourth quarter. The Kings were only up by seven with 8:03 remaining in the game.
Sacramento kept their foot on the gas whenever the Lakers tried to gain momentum. Malik Monk continued to score and make plays for others. It seemed whenever the Kings needed to score, they went to DeRozan for his silky, midrange jumper.
Sacramento got the lead back to 12, as they led 109-97 with under six minutes in the game.
Monk continued to knock down shots, as did DeRozan with his timely buckets. The Kings went on to win the game 124-112.
Sacramento Kings next five games
Jan. 14: vs. New York Knicks
Jan. 16: vs. Washington Wizards
Jan. 18: vs. Portland Trail Blazers
Jan. 20: vs. Miami Heat
Jan. 21: vs. Toronto Raptors