Short-handed Lakers can’t push over the top against Kings

Given how much the Lakers were down, it seemed unlikely that the difference between winning and losing was a matter of inches on a Dennis Schröder floater.

The German speedster had been so nifty on his touch for his 34 minutes, when his shot reached the top of the arc, it was easy to envision it falling.

But it hit iron, with a cruel added flourish of three bounces. A similar fate awaited a last-ditch hurl by Kyle Kuzma to tie it at the final buzzer, and like that, the Lakers dropped a 123-120 decision to the Sacramento Kings – a final small disappointment heading into an All-Star break that the Lakers have shown they desperately need.

The Lakers went 3-6 in the nine games when they missed Anthony Davis due to injury. They’ll resume March 12 at home against Indiana – hoping to be a rejuvenated team. But it didn’t take the sting off the Lakers’ last chance to pack up a win with them into their eight-day break.

“Guys were hurt,” coach Frank Vogel said. “They competed their tails off. They fought hard enough to get a win, and the ball bounces on the rim three times, with the game on the line, we had a couple putbacks there. Just weren’t able to close it out. But our guys wanted to win this game very badly. And they’re disappointed.”

It was a new season-high for Kuzma (25 points) who found it easy to expand into a larger starting role. He was all over the court, also grabbing 12 rebounds and dishing out three assists. Schröder was the scoring leader for the Lakers, with 28 points while Montrezl Harrell matched his season-high with 26 points.

Even without All-Stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers found themselves in prime position to win in the final minutes, trading the lead with their hosts. Schröder converted a three-point play, the free throw giving the Lakers a one-point edge that De’Aaron Fox (23 points, eight assists) took back seconds later with a line-drive dash to the rim.

That was the last offensive possession for Fox, who fouled out seconds after that when Schröder went straight back at him, drawing a foul with 42.6 seconds left. The Lakers point guard knocked back a pair of free throws to regain the lead.

But Harrison Barnes ended up with the deciding basket, scoring the last of his 18 points with 30 seconds left. He added the clinching free throws with a second left, too.

The Lakers weren’t pleased, but expected better things ahead when they return March 12 as a (hopefully) healthy team.

“I’m excited to see what our team does in the second half when everybody’d back,” Kuzma said. “I’m very excited.”

In the run-up to the game, Vogel attempted to summon a sense of playfulness about the their short-handed situation. He cited a January 2020 road game in Oklahoma City when the Lakers stomped the Thunder without James or Davis – Schröder remembered it well, being on the receiving end at the time.

“We talked about that in the film session today and plenty of our guys reminded Dennis that we did do that to him and his team last year,” Vogel said. “So, we had a good laugh over that.”

So the Lakers marched cheerfully into the Golden 1 Center, down 58.9 points, 23.3 rebounds and 15.2 assists from their missing rotation players.

They almost were down more: Kuzma had an inconclusive coronavirus test earlier in the day that left him stewing in his hotel room for four hours until he could return a negative result. He got in roughly 45 minutes before tip-off, then dashed across the street to the arena to test out the bruised right heel that had kept him out of action the night before. It was only 30 minutes to tip before the Lakers could be sure he would play at all.

“So yeah,” he said dryly, “I had a very eventful day.”

One of the challenges from Vogel: Without their stars, it meant more shots and minutes for everyone else. The Lakers took that seriously at the start, seizing an initial 14-point lead in the first quarter. Against a Sacramento team that entered the night just 1-9 in its last 10 games (and with former Lakers coach Luke Walton on the hot seat), the Lakers’ sense of freedom seemed apparent compared to the Kings’ early tension.

A player who had one of the biggest nights didn’t even start: After telling Vogel in the morning that he preferred coming off the bench following a disappointing start against Phoenix, Harrell was the Lakers’ most relentless rim attacker. He piled up 26 points and 11 rebounds leading the bench to a 46-21 edge.

“I get to see the flow of the game, I get to see how certain things are getting called, honestly,” he said. “So I just felt more comfortable coming off the bench so I can actually get a feel for the game. I don’t want to go in there and put myself in early foul trouble and have us undermanned more than we already are.”

Again, the Lakers struggled to cover the 3-point line, as the Kings shot 48 percent from behind the arc. Buddy Hield was only too happy to make them pay, at one stretch hitting 10 shots in a row. The sharpshooter ended up knocking back seven 3-pointers in the game to lead the Kings with 29 points.

There was a significant point of controversy in the first half when Hield hit a shot with his foot on the 3-point line but was given three points anyway. The Lakers informed officials at halftime, who said they would forward the play to the league review office in Seacaucus, New Jersey, but Vogel said he was told too much time had elapsed for the league to overturn the call — his flustered expression spoke to his frustration.

Harrell got even more passionate about an officiating moment in the first half when official Jenna Schroeder whistled him for screaming “AND ONE!” after a made basket. Harrell accused her of making a “soft” call because an earlier exchange.

” I was nowhere near her vicinity. I’m running back on defense, and what I said was, ‘And One,’” he said. “No cursing, no profanity, none of that. And she turned around and gave me a tech because she was in her feelings, because she felt like I was too loud with her or I belittled her when we was talking. Like, you can’t bring that into the game. I don’t care who it is, I don’t care what the situation is.”

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