Los Angeles Lakers (5-16) vs. Sacramento Kings (11-10) December 9th, 7:30 PM Pacific The Kings are above the .500 mark despite DeMarcus Cousins missing some time, but the Lakers continue to drop winnable games. Despite a roster shakeup, LA has been unable to slow teams, and they do not have the firepower to outscore teams when they are surrendering easy buckets. There is some pride on the line here, as there is any time the Lakers deal with an in-state team, but one has to wonder what could motivate this bunch in the purple and gold. The Lakers won three of four games against the Kings last season, but it should be noted that they lost the most recent one. So the Kings look to continue their winning streak against their in-state "rival." Not many returning Lakers did much to speak of in those wins, however. Nick Young scored 17 points in a loss, but he accounted for just 21 points combined in the two wins in which he played. Jordan Hill averaged 9 points and 10 rebounds in the four-game series, but his biggest performance was also in the loss. Cousins is likely out, which is good news for LA. He muscled his way to 19.0 points, 9.7 rebounds, and added 4.3 assists in his three games vs. LA last season. That's fine for the Kings; they still have Rudy Gay, who scored 30+ twice against LA last season and is coming off a hot shooting game. Projection Kings 103 Lakers 97 Image: Rich Pedroncelli Associated Press
I have this marked down as a win. I think it's about time and without Cousins we can do this. yay. Will be interesting to watch Lin and BOozer in the timout huddles.
