SACRAMENTO -- A win is a win. That is the only comfort that the Sacramento Kings can take away from their epic collapse against the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night. After leading by as many as 27 in the third quarter, the Kings let it all slip away. But unlike their disastrous loss in Dallas on Tuesday, they figured out a way to rebound for the 118-115 victory.
It’s not the way you would have scripted the night. The Lakers came in just 8-28 on the season. They’re a team caught between a youth movement and the end of Kobe Bryant’s 20-year run of dominance.
Through three quarters, Bryant was exceptional. He turned back the clock, hitting fallaway jumpers with defenders in his face and even finishing the back-end of an alley-oop. The 37-year-old posted 28 points on 10-of-18 shooting as he seemed to thrive off the historic moment in Sacramento.
Lakers and Kings fans came out in force, creating one of the strangest NBA games you can imagine. The crowd was almost split 50-50 between the two fanbases. Every shot elicited a roar. Lakers flags and Kobe Bryant fatheads were all over the building. It was an electric environment.
“I don’t know if it was a home or a road game. Kobe got the dunk and I was like, what the hell, where we at?,” Rajon Rondo said of the bipartisan crowd in Sacramento.
[HAM: Instant Replay: Kings salvage win after near collapse vs LA]
“I felt like this was an away game,” DeMarcus Cousins said with a smile. “I went to the free throw line and was getting booed.”
Following the game, DeMarcus Cousins spoke to the team about their inconsistent play. According to George Karl, Cousins’ delivery was positive.
“We talk about wanting to be this playoff team, but we continue to make the same mistakes,” Cousins said of what he told his team following the win. “You saw what was successful for us tonight and we went away from it. We can’t continue to talk about, we have to go out there and do it.”
Cousins certainly wasn’t happy about the team dropping a huge lead for the second straight game. The Kings center appeared composed, but his message was clear.
“I feel the loss against Dallas was better than the win against the Lakers,” Cousins said. “You can’t continue to do this. You can’t continue to have these ups and downs throughout the season. We have to be a consistent team if we want to be the team that we talk about being, which is a playoff team, we have to make the next step.”
What was working was a flow offense that turned to the bigs. Cousins had 24 points in his first 22 minutes of action and finished with just seven in his final 10 minutes of play, most of which came at the line in crunch time.
Cousins wasn’t the only big man dominating the paint for Sacramento. Kosta Koufos dropped in 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting, but again, it could have been more. The Lakers simply had no answer for the Kings in the paint.
“We know how to play, we know what to do on a nightly basis, it’s just us going out there and doing it,” Cousins said. “You can’t have the type of game you had tonight.”
There were plenty of positives to take away from the night. Quincy Acy was incredible and they received big contributions from most of the players that took the court, including Rudy Gay, who finished with 18 points.
Gay has had an up and down season for the Kings, but his jumper in the key with just over two minutes remaining gave the Kings the lead in a wild game that had completely spun out of control.
“It feels good,” Gay said. “Honestly, I’ve changed my game up a lot this year for the betterment of the team and it just feels good to come up in the clutch.”
The Kings will take the win. It’s another learning experience for a team that is slowly coming around. Again, they were in a similar situation just two nights before and lost. The fact that they fought through the chaos of the night and huge swings in the action and still came away with a win is a big boost for the team.
“We didn’t close the game the right way, but what I do like about the game is that even though they took a lead, we kept our composure (and) found a way to get the win,” Rondo said.
At 15-21, the Kings are now just a half game behind the Utah Jazz for the eighth spot in the Western Conference. You can see the growth of team, even in games like this. They fought through an emotional night and figured out a way to break another team’s momentum when it counted.
KINGS GUSH OVER KOBE
Plenty of the Kings players were just kids when Kobe Bryant broke into the league. Through their childhood, he was the best perimeter player in the NBA. While these players were aspiring to be NBA players, Kobe was collecting five championship rings and appearing in 17 All-Star games.
Following the Kings big win, the players couldn’t say enough positive things about one of the game’s greats. Here are some of the best quotes from the night:
“Kobe’s fooling us right now, I wouldn’t be surprised if he came back for one more season.” -DeMarcus Cousins
“Oh yeah, I’m definitely going to remember playing against one of the best players in the NBA. To have the ability to go out there and perform, to be out there on the floor with him is just amazing.” -Ben McLemore
“He’s one of the greats, man, he’s Kobe Bryant. He went out there and gave his body for 20 years. If you don’t respect what he’s done in this league, you’re probably on the outside looking in.” -Rudy Gay
KOBE'S GOING AWAY PRESENT
Following the busy night, Kobe Bryant held a press conference of his own to talk Kings/Lakers rivalry for one last time in Sacramento. While there were plenty of good moments from the conversation, the highlight may have been the gift that Sacramento Kings general manager Vlade Divac bestowed on the Lakers great.
According to Bryant, Divac gave him a framed Charlotte Hornets No. 8 jersey with his name on it. Bryant, taken 13th overall in the 1996 NBA Draft, refused to play for the Hornets and was traded to the Lakers for Divac before he ever played a game in the league. From Bryant's reaction, it was the perfect gift.
