The Sacramento Kings defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 125-110 Wednesday night, as center Domantas Sabonis led the young team with a 29-point, 16-rebound performance. Lakers star Anthony Davis matched up with Sabonis for most of the night and only managed to score nine points.

Though Davis was playing through a hip injury for the second straight night Wednesday, he did not blame the pain for his poor performance or the team’s loss.

“I’m still treating it every day,” Davis said. “Obviously, you don’t get that day to really attack it with the back-to-back. But it is what it is. I suit up, I will play. I got to be more effective. Obviously, it was still bothering me a little bit, but I still got to go out there and do my job.”

Through 12 games, the Lakers have at times thrived and struggled to earn an erratic 6-6 record. The Kings have been an especially sharp thorn in their side, beating them twice now in the past month. Before the latest defeat, however, the team was on a three-game winning streak, with two of those wins counting toward the group stage of the in-season tournament.

LeBron James has been positive about the team’s outlook this season, though he noted with urgency that the upcoming schedule is crowded.

“We have too many games that’s coming up on top of us very soon and they’re going to be flying,” James said. “This is three in four nights. We play Friday. We play Sunday. We got a lot of games coming. You learn from some of the mistakes. You learn from some of the good things. But then you move on.”

After reaching the Western Conference Final last year, Los Angeles still has James and Davis as well as a strong supporting cast featuring D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura. The team has four games in the next seven days before a break over Thanksgiving.

The Indiana Pacers kicked off the play-in tournament in the Eastern Conference with an outstanding victory over the Charlotte Hornets.

Domantas Sabonis led the way for the Pacers with an all-around performance as the Pacers thrashed the Hornets. Sabonis finished with 14 points, nine assists and 21 rebounds in the team’s 144-117 victory. The All-Star’s performance allowed everybody on the team to contribute in the win.

“He’s a point forward, and sometimes when you’re a point guard, you have to score more, and sometimes you have to assist more and make the right plays,” said Pacers coach Nate Bjorkgren. “That’s what I thought he was doing tonight. He was passing, hitting cutters, making the right play. He wants to make the right play.”

“There are many ways to impact the game, and as one of the leaders you have to do that,” Sabonis said. “So I was setting up teammates, passing, playing defense. We were up 20 early, and we just kept building the lead.”

The Pacers’ win allowed the team to snap their franchise-worst nine-game playoff losing streak. The last time the Pacers won a playoff game was in April 2018, when they defeated Cleveland in game six of a first-round series.

While the Pacers led throughout the game, it was a disappointing loss for the Hornets. Hornets rookie LaMelo Ball underperformed in his first playoff game. Ball finished with 14 points on 4-of-14 shooting from the field and 2-of-6 from long range. Plus, the rookie had four turnovers in the game. Miles Bridges led Charlotte in scoring with 23 points, while big man Cody Zeller added 17 points.

“They played like a veteran group,” Charlotte coach James Borrego said about Indiana. “They played like a tougher group that had been here before. They weren’t fazed by the moment.”

There is no time for rest for Indiana. The Pacers still have one more game to play to determine whether they make the playoffs or not. Indiana will face off against the Wizards in the final game of the play-ins on Thursday. The Pacers have to defeat Washington to claim the eighth and final seed in the Eastern Conference.