Lakers problems overconfidence

In Sacramento, stand the Capital of California and the Sacramento Kings stands close by as well. And now, there’s a greater perception on why the Capital is located in Sacramento, and not Los Angeles. The Kings capitalized beyond all cylinders and the Los Angeles Lakers loss on Wednesday night at Arco Arena.

For the third time this season, the Lakers faltered in a loss, either from their lack of intensity on defense or overconfidence. But playing against the Kings, it was both the lack of intensity and overconfidence. Entering the contest, the Lakers took the Northern California rivals for granted and didn’t attack the Kings with a sense of urgency.

The Lakers coaching staff, for most of this season, have emphasized defense. But in all three of the games they have loss, came from playing inconsistent defense, and blowing late-quarter leads. In the game against the Kings, the Lakers couldn’t prevent anyone from penetrating the lane, and their gigantic big man in-the-middle, Andrew Bynum posted just eight points and four rebounds in 21 minutes of playing time.

For most of the night, Bynum couldn’t avoid foul trouble. Kobe Bryant scored 28 points on a shaky nine-for-25 shooting. And Pau Gasol contributed, scoring 25 points on nine-for-15 shooting, but a bulk of his points came from the charity strike, where he made seven-of-nine shots.

The Lakers by far, played their worst game this season. The Kings outhustled and outplayed the Lakers, fighting to a 113-101 victory. If you thought a one-point loss to Indiana was the Lakers worst game this season, then you might want to reconsider.

Now, it’s a perfect time for Phil Jackson to insist that no win is promising. Surely, the Lakers thought to highly of themselves, and thought they could roll over the Kings. But, they had the Lakers fooled. Instead, the Kings rolled over the Lakers and came away with a victory, which improved their lowly record to 6-16 on the season.

The Lakers problem is overconfidence, and lack of intensity. Losing to the Kings wasn’t a fluke, but it was a demoralizing oddity. The Lakers enabled the Kings to avoid further damage, with the victory they snapped their eight-game and franchise-tying losing skid against the Lakers at home.

At one point the Lakers were superior leaders of the state, but losing ended that powerful authority. Five starters scored in double-digits for the Kings, while the Lakers just had three starters scoring in double-digits, on a night the Kings shot 49.4 percent.

Another essential part to the Lakers success is the bench mob. The Lakers bench was outscored, off the bench Bobby Jackson led the way for the Kings. In 18 minutes of play, Jackson recorded 15 points on four-for-seven shooting. He shot well from beyond the arch, knocking down three huge three-pointers.

For the Lakers, Lamar Odom had a bench-leading 11 points. And Trevor Ariza, who had a poor night, finished with four points on an awful two-for-10 shooting.

It was the best game the Kings encountered this season. They saved their best performance for the Lakers, and the Kings took advantage of their indolent frame of mind and their uninspiring intensity defensively.

For the Kings, their player of the night was clearly John Salmons, who scored 21 points on eight-for-13 shooting. He was able to penetrate to the lane for two easy points, and teammate Freddy Garcia brought his high intensity against the Lakers, scoring 21 on nine-for-18 shooting.

But clearly, the Lakers overconfidence and unawareness turned into a disadvantage. For the rest of the season, any team they face they’ll have to enter less confident and aware of their opponents capabilities, and most importantly play with lots of intensity.