SACRAMENTO — From the concourse, a purple-and-gold wearing crowd of a supposed road arena began to chant: “KO-BE! KO-BE!” for at least the dozenth time.
At that very moment, LeBron James caught an inbounds pass at the top of the arc, and knocked down a 3-pointer, transforming the chants into raucous cheers in some of the last meaningful fourth quarter minutes of a 129-113 Lakers (37-11) rout at Golden 1 Center.
Juxtapositions like this are often just coincidences. But in the last few days, it’s been harder to shake those chilling feelings when overlapping events feel connected — especially when it comes to Kobe Bryant.
Like when Danny Green hit a 3-pointer in the final seconds of the first half, giving the Lakers 81 points in the first half. Aside from being the most points the Lakers have ever scored in one half on the road, the number had obvious meaning to any diehard Laker fan — the number of points Bryant once scored by himself in a 2006 game against the Raptors.
The Lakers later said that was complete coincidence. Most of them weren’t even aware of the the connection until they were in the locker room at halftime. But it still didn’t stop some of them from feeling that maybe a little substance was there.
“I don’t think no one in here kind of caught that,” Anthony Davis said with a spritely smile. “But guess he’s with us.”
There were several such small tributes against the Kings (18-30), leading up to the most important one. On Friday night, the Lakers needed to heal. On Saturday night, they needed to win.
From the opening notes of “Amazing Grace” to the finish of the Friday game against the Trail Blazers — threaded with countless Kobe tributes — nothing about the team’s actual return to the court felt normal for the first time since the death of Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven others last Sunday. The Lakers acknowledged as much on Friday, with Frank Vogel calling the game “heavy,” and players saying they were anxious, sad and any number of powerful emotions that had much more to do with mourning than any kind of competition.
It might’ve helped that the Lakers had a short turnaround, less than 24 hours to scoot upstate and prepare for a game. It might’ve helped that they left their own building, the site of emotional trauma for a variety of reasons.
Whatever the combination of factors, the Lakers seemed as prepared for work as ever.
“Tonight it was, ‘Get back on track.’ You know what I mean?,” Vogel said. “Let’s get back to business and go out and get a win no matter what. And our guys competed at a really high level.”
Avery Bradley started off the game on a hot streak, a surprise for the defensive specialist who’s been hunting for his jump shot lately. He his six of his first nine shots, including four made 3-pointers, to kick off the first quarter with 16 points.
But it was James (15 points, 10 rebounds) who orchestrated the action with precision, notching all 11 of his assists in the first half as the Lakers scored more points in a half (81) than they have ever in the shot-clock era. He threw no-look passes, and passes behind his back. One of the best assists of the night came not from James, but from Rajon Rondo who found James streaking down court on a bounce pass for a breakaway dunk.
The draining events of the last week didn’t slow the Lakers down: They had 37 points in the fast break. They were also devastating from distance, finishing with 19 threes, and the team as a whole pinged the ball across the court with 33 assists.
“We kind of let ourselves down from that game last night,” said Danny Green. “We tried to bounce back tonight and capitalize and hopefully get back in the right category and get on another win streak for ourselves, keep our focus, re-focus and not look at or get too excited.”
The Kings were overwhelmed, trailing by double, 44-22, after just one quarter. While De’Aaron Fox (24 points) and Buddy Hield (22 points) pushed back, the game was mostly a double-digit margin for the final three quarters.
Seven Lakers finished in double figures, led by Anthony Davis (21 points), who bullied an undermanned Kings frontcourt without Marvin Bagley and Dewayne Dedmon.
The loss to the Blazers ended the Lakers string of perfection in all back-to-back games, but the team is still perfect in second-day contests at 7-0 — backing up Vogel’s pregame observation that his team had been “pretty resilient” in such situations.
There are different levels of resilience, though, and the Lakers pulled out of a devastating week with a win — a hopeful sign that beyond healing lies some semblance of business as usual.
“Last night was tough on everyone: Some guys said they didn’t even think it felt like a game,” Davis said. “But we were all eager to play tonight and try to get back in the win column.”