Lakers Dealt Worst Loss of Season, 114-92 : Sacramento Defeats Los Angeles for First Time in Last 28 Meetings

It’s a fact of life here: Live long enough, and you’re bound to see it all.

A politician keeping a promise?

Well, maybe not all. But Saturday night at Arco Arena, the Sacramento Kings made history by beating the Lakers, 114-92, for the first time since they took up residence here in the state capital, almost three years ago.

It was also the first win in their last 28 games against the Lakers, dating back more than five years, to Feb. 18, 1983, when the Kings were still in Kansas City. Only four members of the organization remain from that night--center LaSalle Thompson, Vice President Joe Axelson, trainer Bill Jones and publicist Julie Fie.

If the law of averages finally kicked in, it did so with a vengeance. The Kings, who haven’t forgotten the indignity of spotting the Lakers a 29-0 lead at the Forum in a game last season, got a bit of payback by meting out the Lakers’ most one-sided loss of 1987-88.

“I know what you’re going to say,” said Coach Jerry Reynolds, who was an assistant on the Kings’ bench in that Forum humiliation and was still an assistant until a couple of weeks ago, when he succeeded Bill Russell.

“You’re going to say they didn’t have Magic (Johnson) and (Michael) Cooper. Well, we didn’t have Reggie Theus and Derek Smith.

“The heck with ‘em. We beat the Lakers, and it’s in the book.”

The Kings have won just 3 of 10 games since the coaching change, and this was only their 20th victory of the season against 48 losses, the fourth-worst record in the league.

“We finally qualified for the NCAAs,” said Sacramento center Joe Kleine, referring to the college playoffs. “We knocked off the No. 1 team. We were on the fence before this.”

Someone asked Reynolds if this was the high point of the Kings’ season.

“What would you call it?” he cracked back. “We aren’t talking a lot of high points. This is your basic peak.

“This is the first time the Kings have beaten the Lakers since Gregg (Lukenbill) bought the team, so I think it’s time for a (contract) extension. What do you think?”

But Reynolds--who is as quick with the one-liners as his predecessor was slow with calling timeouts--said one win hardly balanced the ledger.

“My feeling on that stuff is the same as when I was a kid growing up in French Lick (yes, that French Lick, in Indiana),” Reynolds said. “Two eyes for an eye.

“And we’re not even in eyebrow territory yet.”

The Lakers, who left Magic Johnson in Los Angeles to nurse a sore groin muscle and never planned on bringing Cooper, who is out with a sprained ankle, are beginning to raise an eyebrow or two with their play of late. This was their sixth loss in nine games (seven without Johnson). They’ve lost four of their last five on the road, and they’re batting .500 in March: 7 wins, 7 losses.

And they made it very clear that they can’t keep up with the likes of the Kings--who had four players out with injuries, including high-scoring guards Theus and Smith--when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar can make just one of eight shots through three quarters, and a rookie point guard, Sacramento’s Kenny Smith, can embarrass Magic’s substitutes, Milt Wagner and Wes Matthews.

Smith scored 30 points, his best night as a pro, dished out 12 assists, grabbed 6 rebounds and made 4 steals. He picked Wagner clean twice in the first five minutes, causing Laker Coach Pat Riley to yank his rookie guard right there and keep him benched for the rest of the half.

“Smith took it to us and stripped us, too,” Riley said. “I’ve never seen anybody strip it like that four times. He had a great night.

“Law of averages? It’s interesting that it would catch up to us on a night that Derek Smith was out, Theus was out, (Mike) McGee was out.

“They came at us with a bunch of soldiers instead.”

And took no prisoners.

The Kings were up, 29-18, after one quarter, led by 10 at halftime and opened a 16-point lead, 67-51, before the Lakers closed within seven at 79-72 with a minute and a half left in the third quarter. That was as close as they would get.

Before it was over, even Conner Henry--former UC Santa Barbara Gaucho, former Rocket, former Celtic--got in his licks. Henry, just signed by the Kings Saturday, hit a three-point shot and closed out the scoring with a three-point play in the final seconds.

“How about that deal?” Reynolds cracked.

And how about Harold Pressley, who nailed four three-point shots as part of his 20-point night. Or Otis Thorpe, who had 21 points and 11 rebounds. Or Kleine, who also had 11 rebounds, leading to Sacramento’s 51-39 advantage on the boards.

The Lakers countered with 26 points by Byron Scott, 19 by James Worthy and little else.

Riley had feared that something like this might be in the offing after Friday night’s one-point loss at the buzzer to Denver at the Forum. He even alluded to that game during a conversation about the earthquake that rocked Los Angeles early Saturday morning.

“That was no earthquake,” he said. “That was Michael Adams slamming his door after celebrating all night.”

Adams is the Denver guard whose shot beat the Lakers with no time remaining.

“I was concerned about the residual effect of that loss,” Riley said. “You can’t afford to lose at home, and we gave that game away. It affected us in the first period. And after that, we were down too far.

“We didn’t have enough guns to get it done, and we were pretty much playing empty in the fourth period.”

Thompson was just a rookie in 1983 when the Kings last beat the Lakers, 124-118, in Kansas City’s Kemper Arena. He had 2 points in 14 minutes that night. Saturday night, he had 16 points and 9 rebounds off the bench.

Had Thompson wondered if he’d ever see another King win against the Lakers?

“No,” he said, “I knew we’d beat them again. We’ve come so close so many times. I remember one game in L.A. where we were up six or seven with about a minute to play and lost. We’ve had our chances.”