Lakers are not even fit for Kings in falling to 0-2 for first time since 2002-03 NBA season

Lakers forward Josh McRoberts, right, goes to the basket against Sacramento center DeMarcus Cousins during the first quarter of Monday's game. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

SACRAMENTO - One game into the shortest season of many of their professional lives, and the Lakers were already hurting when they took the court Monday night at the Power Balance Pavilion to face the Sacramento Kings.

By now you probably know all about the torn ligament in Kobe Bryant's right wrist. Then came word an hour or so before the game that Pau Gasol suffered a sprained right shoulder and Josh McRoberts had a sprained left thumb.

It was double trouble since the Lakers were already without Andrew Bynum, who served the second game of his four-game suspension Monday.

It was just the sort of thing the Kings could exploit en route to a 100-91 victory, dropping the Lakers to 0-2 for the first time since the 2002-03 season.

Gasol and McRoberts were injured during the Lakers' come-from-ahead loss Sunday afternoon to the Chicago Bulls at Staples Center, the first of three games in as many days to start the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season.

The Lakers complete their only stretch of back-to-back-to- back games when they play host to the Utah Jazz tonight at Staples Center. It's only part of a grueling period in which they play six times in eight days, however.

Gasol, who shifted to center from power forward to replace Bynum, was ineffective early but found a better rhythm to start the third quarter. He wore a black neoprene sleeve to protect his shoulder.

McRoberts, who moved from a backup role to the starting

power forward job, couldn't remember how he hurt his thumb. He didn't believe it would trouble him and he contributed some energetic play from the opening tip.

The Lakers looked like a tired and injured team against the Kings, falling behind in the first half and staying behind in the second. Some inspired bench play kept them close in the first half, before Bryant and Gasol fueled a fourth-quarter comeback.

Sacramento led by as many as 15 points in the fourth, then put the game away in the closing minutes.

Bryant scored 29 points on 10-for-24 shooting, including two on a thunderous dunk off a lob pass from Devin Ebanks on a third-quarter fastbreak. Gasol scored all but two of his 15 points in the second half. He also grabbed nine rebounds.

McRoberts had two points, five rebounds and three assists.

Marcus Thornton scored 27 points for the Kings, who were playing their season opener. Rookie Jimmer Fredette had six points in his NBA debut, leaving little doubt that he can be an effective player in the pros after a stellar college career at BYU.

Meanwhile, Devin Ebanks made his second consecutive start at small forward for the Lakers, keeping veterans Matt Barnes, Luke Walton and Metta World Peace on the bench. World Peace (the former Ron Artest) will remain with the second unit.

"It's a job interview," coach Mike Brown said of starting Ebanks, a second-year player. "I have the right to terminate that interview at any time, especially when I have some pretty good veterans sitting and waiting and pushing the guys in front of them."

World Peace then went out and scored 10 points on 5-for-7 shooting in 12 minutes, 25 seconds in the first half, helping to keep the Lakers close to Sacramento before a late collapse enabled the Kings to take a 49-40 lead by halftime.

World Peace finished with 19 points on 8-for-14 shooting.

By game's end, Barnes and Walton also would play.

The Lakers went into the game with five consecutive victories over the Kings in Sacramento, including what many assumed would be their final visit to the place Phil Jackson rather famously called a cow town.

The Kings were close to swapping the state capital for the suburbs of Orange County, but a last-gasp effort by mayor Kevin Johnson and other city officials kept the team from leaving the outdated and renamed Power Balance Pavilion for Anaheim.

"You have to give credit to Kevin Johnson and the city of the Sacramento for doing what they needed to know to give this thing another go," Brown said when asked about the possibility the Lakers might have played Monday at the Honda Center.

Source: http://www.presstelegram.com/sports/ci_19623753?source=rss

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