(Reuters) – The Los Angeles Lakers continued their stumbling start to a new era with a 100-91 road loss to the Sacramento Kings on Monday as the visitors matched their poorest opening to a campaign for nine years.
Following their fourth-quarter meltdown against the Chicago Bulls on Christmas Day, the Lakers (0-2) were overpowered by the young Kings, leaving new coach Mike Brown still searching for his first victory since taking over in the off-season.
Marcus Thornton scored 12 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter for Sacramento and Tyreke Evans added 20 to cancel out a game-high 29 from Los Angeles’s Kobe Bryant.
The Kings looked fresh in what was their season opener, continually beating the Lakers for pace around the court to build a 14-point advantage through three quarters.
Los Angeles, however, woke from their slumber and fought back to trail 89-87 late in the game, but Sacramento used an 8-0 run in the final few minutes to ensure the Lakers lost their first two games of a season for the first time since 2002.
