A hard-fought battle ends with the Lakers beating the Kings again on Saturday afternoon, 103-99.

LeBron James was in intense attack mode. He had 23 points in the first half alone. He finished the game with 32 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals. Anthony Davis had a slow offensive game, scoring just 10 points, but his defense was huge with three blocks. He also grabbed 15 rebounds and handed out five dimes.

D’Angelo Russell scored 20 massive points off the bench. Austin Reaves contributed 16 points, four rebounds and five assists. Gabe Vincent shot two to three from behind to secure six points.

However, the match ball must go to Rui Hachimura. He secured the team’s victory with a crucial shot that gave LA more possession. He finished with nine points and 11 rebounds.

The Lakers’ defensive intensity was high early in the game. AD had two cancellations early on and the rest of the team stifled the Kings. Not only did LeBron hand out dimes, one of them was a bounce pass to Rui for a dunk. He also attacked the color. LA, rose at eight.

Austin used two mid-range jumpers of his own. Rui received another pass, a lob from Austin, for his second dunk. The Kings were down by six and slowly started to get back into the game.

DeMar DeRozan had a big dunk and the Kings were within four minutes. Gabe came into the game and hit a 3-pointer. At the end of the first period, Los Angeles had a five-point lead. LeBron scored twelve points in the quarter.

Sacramento cut the deficit to three early in the second quarter. LeBron attacked the ball again for a layup that turned into an “and-1” when he was fouled and converted on the free throw.

The Lakers maintained good defense while AD was still on the bench.

LeBron was extremely fired up and continued to attack the Kings. LA was up to 11 fastbreak points ahead of the depressing two Kings. AD didn’t score well, but his defensive presence was huge for the team.

At halftime of the quarter, the Lakers were only up by two. They found themselves in a two-minute scoring deficit and the Kings took advantage and took a two-point lead. Both teams exchanged a few baskets, ending the game in a tie and taking the lead from each other.

At halftime the Lakers had a three lead.

The second half began with both teams taking turns taking the lead. Sacramento looked better offensively while Los Angeles missed a few shots. At the first timeout, the Lakers were trailing by one.

Rui finally made a 3-pointer after missing three attempts to put LA back in the lead. The Kings looked much better offensively and made the shots they missed in the first half.

AD finally seemed to find an offensive rhythm and made three shots. The game was a close contest the entire quarter. Neither team was able to distance themselves much. Gabe and Fox exchanged 3-pointers.

At the end of the third period, LA had a lead of four.

LeBron started offensively for the Lakers in the final frame. On the shoulders of the King, the Lakers took a lead of six. Cam Reddish’s defense shined with a steal that led to an and-1.

LA did a good job of keeping the lead, but the Kings got within two. As soon as the Kings equalized, the Lakers responded and took the lead by six. Sacramento missed many opportunities to reduce the deficit by a few points.

Los Angeles was on fire, going up by 10 with an 11-2 run. Fox then quickly scored five points to make it a five-point game. Fox missed a wide-open three-pointer that could have been fatal, but then Domantas Sabonis capitalized on an and-1 opportunity, making it a two-point game.

The seconds passed and the Lakers maintained their two-point lead by a razor-thin margin.

With 12 seconds left, Malik Monk committed a stupid foul and sent AD to the line. Unfortunately for LA, Davis missed both shots. Rui then hit the ball to Austin, who grabbed it and was fouled. He made both free throws and secured the win.

Key Takeaways:

Do those wide open threesomes!

LeBron James? LeBron James.

The Lakers have improved by leaps and bounds by being able to respond every time the opposing team tried to take the momentum.

The extra power has been great for the Lakers in recent games. They tried to grab every rebound, look for loose balls and make the right plays.

The Lakers’ next game is against the Detroit Pistons on Monday at 7:30 p.m. PT.

You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.