On Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers traveled to Sacramento to play the Sacramento Kings in an attempt to win their first game against their Pacific Division rivals in four years.

This was a crucial game because the Lakers entered the evening two games behind the Kings in the standings. Sadly, the Lakers’ poor performance against the Kings continued as they were defeated 121-107.

With the game’s first five points, Austin Reaves gave the Lakers a strong start. He then added two more three-pointers, giving the Lakers an early 11-point lead (13–9).

Following a Kings timeout, they came back strong, scoring four points in a row to tie the game before Rui Hachimura’s huge dunk. Hachimura scored eight points in a short period after that, which got him going.

The game was tied at 29 at the end of the first quarter, with De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis beginning to click from there, as they normally do against the Lakers.

LeBron James got Los Angeles moving early in the second quarter, scoring six points in a row, following a scoreless first quarter. From there, though, the Kings made a few threes, giving them a little advantage.

Keegan Murray was just as hot for the Kings as Reaves was in the first half, and they led 60–56 going into the halftime break.

The third quarter saw the Lakers start sluggish, and as a result of several turnovers, the Kings scored five straight points. L.A.’s drought was eventually broken by Davis when he reached the free throw line.

James was the primary offender as the turnovers persisted, failing to generate any momentum as Sacramento’s advantage grew to double digits for the first time.

Davis finally made a field goal to break a streak of more than seven minutes without one, following a Lakers timeout. Despite their best efforts, the Lakers were unable to break free from their rut as Sabonis and Fox dominated the star duo with Davis and James.

The Kings increased their lead to 88-73 at the end of the third quarter as James made poor shots and expensive mistakes.

The Lakers needed to start the fourth quarter strong if they were going to mount any kind of comeback. But the Lakers were unable to generate much momentum with James and Davis sitting on the bench.

Upon his eventual comeback, LeBron switched to attack mode in an attempt to narrow Sacramento’s 18-point advantage. He forced a fast timeout out of the Kings by scoring five points in a row, including two enormous dunks.

After Reaves hit another triple to end the timeout, the game suddenly returned to single digits. That was the closest it would get, though, as the Kings answered with consecutive three-pointers.