Lakers crush Grizzlies to advance, Kings stay alive in NBA Playoffs

LeBron James and the Lakers will have to wait to see who they'll face in the Western Conference semi-finals after the Sacramento Kings fended off elimination, beating the NBA champion Golden State Warriors 118-99 to force a game seven in their series.

The Lakers, who earned the Western Conference seventh seed via the play-in tournament, rebounded with a vengeance after failing to lock up the series in Memphis on Wednesday.

They dominated in every facet in one of their best performances of an often rocky season, thrilling a crowd at Crypto.com Arena that included 86-year-old Oscar-winning actor Jack Nicholson.

D'Angelo Russell led the Lakers with 31 points. James finished with 22 points and six assists, and Anthony Davis had 16 points and 14 rebounds.

The Lakers dominated every facet. They outscored the Grizzlies 52-32 in the paint and 24-14 on the fast break.

They out-rebounded the Grizzlies 52-45 and had 20 second-chance points to Memphis' nine.

The Lakers won a playoff series for the first time since winning the club's 17th NBA title in 2020, in the Covid-protective bubble in Florida.

- Kings 118 - 99 Warriors -

It was a far different story for the home team in San Francisco, where the Sacramento Kings rebounded from three straight defeats with a comprehensive 118-99 victory that tied their series with the Golden State Warriors at three games apiece.

The Kings were undaunted by the knowledge that the Warriors were 33-8 at home in the regular season, and had won two home games to claw back into this series after dropping the first two games in Sacramento.

Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and the rest of the star-studded Warriors couldn't get the deficit below five points the rest of the way.

Malik Monk scored 28 off the bench and point guard De'Aaron Fox added 26 for the Kings, who are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2006 and have a chance to take the series on Sunday.

Rookie Keegan Murray scored 15 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for Sacramento. Kevin Huerter and Trey Lyles added 12 apiece as the Kings withstood every Warriors attempt to rally.

Curry led the Warriors with 29 points and five assists, and Thompson added 22, but they got little support.

Andrew Wiggins chipped in 13 for Golden State, but Kevon Looney and Jordan Poole had just seven apiece and the Kings' bench outscored Golden State's reserves 52-21.

© Agence France-Presse