Lakers vs. Kings Final Score: L.A. outlasts Sacramento to get over .500

The Lakers struggled to defend the paint, and LeBron James and Russell Westbrook both had relatively off nights, but the Lakers gutted out a 122-114 victory over the Sacramento Kings thanks to some clutch buckets from James, a stellar performance from Talen Horton-Tucker off the bench and key contributions from Malik Monk and Dwight Howard as well.

James went just 12-26 from the field after a slow start, but still managed to lead the Lakers in scoring with 31 points, including a couple of huge 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to keep the Lakers in the game as he went shot-for-shot down the stretch with almost-Laker Buddy Hield (who finished the evening with 26 points and seven 3-pointers of his own).

James came out on top in that duel, and he wasn’t afraid to let the Kings know about it. All in all, LeBron scored or assisted on 20 of the Lakers’ 37 points in the final period.

Westbrook had a horrendous start to his night, beginning the game 1-7 from the field and picking up a technical foul late in the first quarter. But although his shooting woes continued into the second period, Westbrook’s teammates picked him up, as the Lakers outscored the Kings 31-28 in the period to narrow their deficit to two points heading into halftime.

Russ finally settled in during the second half to finish with 19 points, and most impressively also ended the game with zero turnovers, the first time he had done since in 407 games (!).

And while Westbrook struggled shooting the ball, Horton-Tucker had his best game in weeks, hitting his first 3-pointer in five games and scoring 19 points off the bench. The Lakers’ young wing looked confident and aggressive all night, playing with a level of smoothness and control that has been absent from his game recently. Hopefully it’s a sign of things to come.

Also off the bench, Dwight Howard nearly had a double-double in the first half, notching 12 points and 8 rebounds on his way to a 14-point, 14-rebound performance. Meanwhile, starting shooting guard Malik Monk continued his recent aggressive play on offense, bouncing back from a rough shooting start to finish with 24 points, including some late buckets of his own to keep the Lakers neck-and-neck with the Kings in the fourth before they pulled away.

Carmelo Anthony saw limited action in the first half…