BY: MARIA BULLARD – SPORTS ON AIR USA CONTRIBUTOR
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Lakers stormed to a 3-0 start for the season, beating the Sacramento Kings in a 131-127 shootout Saturday night at the Crypto.com Arena.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis combined for 63 points, 23 rebounds and 12 assists to propel the purple-and-gold franchise to its best start since the 2016-17 NBA season.
Making matters worse for the Kings was the fact that the rest of the Lakers starters also finished in double figures in points.
Rui Hachimura tallied 18 points and 9 boards while guards Austin Reaves and D’ Angelo Russell chipped in 16 apiece. Rookie Dalton Knecht added 10 points off the bench, including a big 3 late in the third quarter.
The Lakers hit 52.2 percent from the field (48-of-92) and 41.2 percent from 3 (14-of-34). They also dominated the boards, 45-32.
“We’ve all been very fortunate to watch his greatness for so long and for him to actually keep doing it is absolutely insane,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said of James, who carried Los Angeles in the fourtj quarter where he dropped 14 points.
The victory allowed Redick, a rookie NBA coach with no prior history of coaching at the NBA level, to burnish his record to 3-0.
Domantas Sabonis paced the Kings with a triple-double in a losing effort, He logged 29 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. De’Aaron Fox finished with 28 points and 10 dimes for Sacramento, which also shot a high 51.1 percent from the field (45-of-88).
The Kings hope to turn their fortunes around when they host the Blazers on Monday while the Lakers gun for 4-0 against the Suns also on October 28.
