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The Los Angeles Lakers dropped their second game in three tries to start the 2023-24 campaign, losing 132-127 to the Sacramento Kings in overtime on October 29. Kings star point guard De’Aaron Fox left the game with an ankle injury. But not before dropping 37 points on better than 58% shooting.
Fox also had eight assists, four rebounds, one block, and one steal before leaving the contest for good with 3:31 left in the overtime period.
“D Fox is getting better and better,” LeBron James said via Asylum Interviews on October 29.
In a small sample size of three games, Fox is averaging a career-high 31.3 points on 59.3% true shooting with 6.0 assists, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.3 steals. He’s also seeing a career-high in minutes per game, though the injury could sideline him.
“They got the reigning Coaching of the Year,” James said. “I know what Mike Brown is all about being able to play for him for many years, and then just being able to see his growth continue to grow over the years as an assistant but, obviously, making his mark last year. They got a really good franchise.”
The Lakers are 3-7 against the Kings in their last 10 meetings, and now just 1-4 since Brown took the helm last season.
Brown spent six seasons as the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
His first five seasons were the final five campaigns of James’ first stint with the franchise that selected him No. 1 overall in 2003. The head coach would return to the Cavs as head coach in 2014-15 but only for one season while James would return the following year.
Lakers Still Sorting Out Rotations
Lakers head coach Darvin Ham admitted that he would like to take a closer look at his rotations to get a more set pattern.
“My rotation, we got to really get you know dig into that, and really figure out and really take a close look so guys are in rhythm,” Ham said. “When you know when you’re going in, and who you’re playing with, all that, that matters. So buckling down on our rotation … that definitely is the main thing that’s on my mind.”
But James says, as a player, that cannot affect how you approach the game.
“Your job is if you’re on the floor, then you try to make it work with the other four guys that’s on the floor with you,” James said.
“You try to compliment each other the best way you can both offensively and defensively, and until Coach figure out a rhythm, until you know what your sub pattern is, or whatever the case may be,” James said. “Just go out and play.”
LeBron James Blows Past Minutes Limit Again
James played just over 39 minutes in the game, blowing his previously imposed minutes limit out of the water thanks in part to the addition period. The 38-year-old star played 35 minutes in the Lakers’ second game, a 100-95 win versus the Phoenix Suns on October 26, and he played all but one minute of the fourth quarter and the entire overtime period versus Sacramento.
“You get caught up in the game and strategy, and there’s no way in hell he was going to come out the game, not in that circumstance,” Ham said. “
The Lakers play the Orlando Magic in the second leg of a back-to-back on October 30, though, and James could be up for his first “DNP-Rest” of the season according to Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
The Lakers face the Los Angeles Clippers before a three-day respite after playing Orlando, potentially allowing for rest on the front and back end of that game.
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