LeBron James dominates to give the Lakers their third win in a row

LeBron James went into attack mode in the fourth quarter, helping the Lakers extend their winning streak to three, beating the Sacramento Kings on Saturday.

The Lakers handed the Sacramento Kings their second loss of the season, 131-127, after LeBron James took over in the fourth.

Anthony Davis scored 31 points with nine rebounds, three steals, two assists and two blocks. LeBron ended with 32 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists and a block. Rui Hachimura pitched in with 18 points, nine rebounds and three assists.

D’Angelo Russell had 16 points with four rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Dalton Knecht had 10 points. Austin Reaves grabbed seven rebounds with his 16 points and six assists.

Kings center Domantas Sabonis started the scoring with an emphatic dunk. AD and D’Lo both followed that with and-1s, which they converted. The Lakers went up by six. The Kings missed most of their shots from behind the arc in the first, shooting 3-13 as a team.

Kevin Huerter's pair of 3-pointers helped jumpstart the Kings' offense, making it a one-point game. The Lakers immediately counterattacked and extended their lead to five.

Sacramento went on an 8-2 run to cut the deficit to two at the end of the first.

LeBron started things off in the second with a layup and a behind-the-back pass to Dalton for a 3-pointer, putting L.A. up by 12. The Kings got hot in the second, making three of his four shot attempts, which included a difficult fadeaway shot over Keegan Murray.

After the Lakers had led by as many as 15, Sacramento slowly started creeping back and cut the deficit to 10.

Both teams traded baskets, helping the Kings stay close enough to mount an attack. Sacramento cut the deficit to two with a sudden 10-0 scoring run. D’Lo knocked down a three to help stop some of the bleeding.

The Kings made a strong push to end the half, but another 3-pointer by D’Lo put the Lakers up four at halftime.

The second half started just as the first did, with Sabonis striking first. Austin answered with a nice midrange shot. The Kings had shifted the momentum in their favor as they jumped ahead by three.

L.A.’s turnovers were up to 12 and they looked very sloppy with the ball. Sacramento still had the momentum, while the Lakers were playing with lower energy and struggled to put points on the board.

LeBron hit a much-needed 3-pointer to bring the score closer, but the Kings answered back to extend their lead to seven. As soon as Sacramento was pushing the momentum even further, L.A. fought through its struggles and crept closer.

The Lakers had made it a one-point game, but DeAaron Fox knocked down two 3-pointers to extend Sacramento’s lead to seven at the end of the third.

The Lakers open the final frame with two 3-pointers to make it a one-point game. LeBron knocked down another shot to put LA up by one. He continued his barrage and converted on an and-1. LeBron made another three and suddenly, the Lakers had taken all of the momentum.

Los Angeles’ run had extended to 21-0, with LeBron making basket after basket. Fox knocked down a three of his own to stop some of the bleeding for Sacramento.

The Lakers kept the momentum while the Kings desperately tried to score in any way they could.

DeMar DeRozan started hitting his usual midrange shots and knocked down 3-pointers. With 4:35 left, LeBron was subbed back with the Lakers up by ten. AD made two shots in a row but the Kings responded and the lead shrunk to four.

A 3-pointer by AD and a dunk by Rui put the final nail in the coffin as the Kings couldn’t mount enough points to come back in the end.

Key Takeaways:

In these three first games of the season, the Lakers have been all over the place with their turnovers. Tonight’s game was a bad turnover game—a lot of mishandling of the ball that they need to clean up.

AD’s MVP case skyrocketed again with his performance tonight.

LeBron being able to take over a game 22 seasons in is remarkable to witness.

The Lakers’ next game is Monday against the Phoenix Suns at 7:00 PM PT.

You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.