Kings 100, Lakers 95
Rookie DeMarcus Cousins had 27 points and 10 rebounds as the Sacramento Kings snapped an eight-game losing streak against the Los Angeles Lakers with a stunning 100-95 road victory Friday.
The Lakers’ Kobe Bryant scored 38 points to move past Hakeem Olajuwon into eighth on the NBA career scoring list. Bryant has 26,972 points and will likely rise to sixth by the end of the season, ahead of Elvin Hayes (27,313) and Moses Malone (27,409).
Omri Casspi had 20 points and eight rebounds while Samuel Dalembert scored a season-high 18 for the Kings (11-33). Carl Landry added 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Kings opened the second half with an 18-4 run to take a 77-59 lead as Casspi scored eight points.
The Lakers (33-14) closed to 93-89 with 3:17 left before Sacramento increased its lead to 97-90 with 1:29 to go on Casspi’s tip-in en route to its fifth road victory of the season.
Bryant played the entire first quarter and scored 21 of the Lakers’ 33 points. He returned with 4:24 left in the first half and scored the Lakers’ final five points of the second quarter.
Cousins had 22 points and five rebounds in the first half as the Kings shot 59.1 percent from field and led 59-55.