It looked like Ray McCallum had lost his chance to be the night’s hero when the Sacramento point guard missed a go-ahead jumper with two seconds remaining in the Kings’ matchup against the Lakers in Las Vegas.
But McCallum got his mulligan when he grabbed Reggie Evans’ ensuing airball and dropped it through the hoop to give his team a 93-92 victory in the final game of the preseason.
McCallum’s buzzer-beating putback capped off a 25-10 run by the Kings to end the game.
“They were just more aggressive,” said Lakers head coach Byron Scott. “They were trying to win, and I think our guys were trying to hold on. It’s pretty much as simple as that.”
McCallum only played in the game’s final four minutes, but during this time Sacramento outscored the Lakers 17-3. While McCallum scored seven points, the Lakers went 1-for-7 from the field, committed four fouls, missed three free throws and turned the ball over twice.
“I think we stopped playing (with) three minute in the game,” Jordan Clarkson said. “We just gotta tighten up and really just make it happen.”
Contrary to the Kings’ 11th-hour surge, the Lakers maintained control for the majority of the game. L.A. led by 12 heading into the final quarter and held Sacramento to 41 percent shooting on the night.
Five Lakers reached double figures, including Ed Davis, who notched a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds.
However, the Lakers had to deal with foul trouble limiting many of their players. Clarkson, Jeremy Lin and Robert Sacre were all one foul away from fouling out, which would have been especially devastating with seven players getting the night off or sitting out due to injury.
With the preseason finished, the games start to count beginning on Tuesday against the Houston Rockets. Despite Friday’s outcome being ultimately irrelevant toward the Lakers’ season, Clarkson is using the loss as motivation.
“I’m still kind of upset about it,” he said. “I hate losing. We can’t do (anything) now except get better.”