In all of the losses the Los Angeles Lakers (4-4) have endured so far this season, they’ve been beaten almost singlehandedly by one of the opposing team’s best players. First, it was George Hill of the Jazz. Then, it was superstar Southern California natives Russell Westbrook and Paul George. Finally, on Tuesday night in L.A., it was Harrison Barnes of the Mavericks – yes, that Harrison Barnes – who dropped 31 points on the way to a 109-97 Dallas victory.
On the bright side, the Lakers have done a fantastic job of overwhelming stars as a team in each of their four victories. They took the best shots of James Harden and Dwight Howard to the chest, and still came out on top. They somehow broke Steph Curry’s record-setting consecutive games with a made three-pointer streak. And they defeated an emerging Suns team despite a 39-point performance from Devin Booker.
Whichever team we see suiting up in purple and gold tonight in Sacarmento largely depends on how well the Lakers’ front court can handle (former?) #FutureLaker DeMarcus Cousins. The Kings (4-5) may be in a perpetual state of god-knows-what’s-going-on, but Boogie is still Boogie. The big man is averaging nearly 26 points and eight rebounds per game over the first nine games of the season despite his team’s overall struggles.
The Lakers’ ability to contain Boogie will likely depend very heavily on the health of Larry Nance Jr., who missed Tuesday’s game after sustaining a concussion Sunday against Phoenix. Nance is listed as questionable for tonight’s game and will undergo a test pregame.
The Lakers and Kings tip off at 7:30 PST. The contest will be nationally televised on TNT. More importantly, it’ll mark just the second time the Lakers have visited Sacramento since:
D’ANGELO RUSSELL GIVING THE WORLD A WARNING. pic.twitter.com/L27Pzpa23N
— Donald Green. (@TheDonaldGeeNBA) January 8, 2016
#tbt
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