Kings use 39-point third quarter to beat Los Angeles
SACRAMENTO — DeMarcus Cousins had 31 points, 16 rebounds and five assists, and the Sacramento Kings used a big third quarter to send the slumping Los Angeles Lakers to a seventh straight defeat with a 116-92 win Monday night in a game featuring seven technical fouls.
After five straight points by Cousins during one sequence, Darren Collison hit consecutive 3-pointers late in the third as the Kings outscored the Lakers 39-13 in the quarter on the way to just their second victory in seven games. Collison wound up with 20 points.
First-year Lakers coach Luke Walton was ejected at the 4:14 mark of the first quarter after two technicals in succession for arguing, and he had to be held back by his players near midcourt as he became enraged after Cousins knocked over Julius Randle with no foul called.
Randle also received a T on the play and associate head coach Brian Shaw took over. D’Angelo Russell, Shaw, Cousins and Lou Williams also had technicals.
The Lakers got Russell and Nick Young back for Sunday’s 118-112 home loss to the Knicks, but their minutes were limited again Monday.
Russell scored 17 points while Jordan Clarkson and Williams contributed 15 and 14 points, respectively, off the bench. Young had eight points as Los Angeles lost for the eighth time in nine games. The Lak-
ers played the second game of a back-to-back while kicking off a seven-game, 13-day road trip.
Russell had missed 12 of 13 games with left knee soreness and Young returned after sitting out seven of nine with a strained calf.
This was already the Lakers’ second visit to new Golden 1 Center, where they won 101-91 on Nov. 10 after trailing by 19 in the second quarter.
Cousins, again defended by Timofey Mozgov, went 0 for 3 in the second quarter but answered after halftime and finished 12 for 21 from the field.
Kings guard Ben McLemore was helped off the court with a bruised left quadriceps at the 7:35 mark of the first quarter after getting a knee on Mozgov’s screen. He didn’t return.