The Los Angeles Lakers were very shorthanded when they took on the Sacramento Kings in Anaheim, Calif. for their third 2023-24 preseason game on Wednesday. LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Austin Reaves were held out, while Cam Reddish and Jarred Vanderbilt didn’t play due to injury.
But they still managed to defeat the Kings, 109-101, to get their second straight victory, even though it wasn’t pretty.
Los Angeles scored only 20 points in the second quarter and was struggling from the outside after it looked impressive from 3-point range in their first two exhibition contests. But the team perked up after halftime, putting 40 points on the board in the third period, and it managed to shoot 50.0 percent from the field for the game.
After giving up 125 and 126 points on Saturday and Monday, respectively, the Lakers found some defensive prowess in this game. They held Sacramento to just 38.9 percent overall and 30.0 percent from beyond the arc, which is an encouraging sign, especially given the fact that Sacramento averaged 120.7 points a game last season.