The Lakers defeated the Kings 132-122 on Saturday night, sweeping them 4-0 in the season series.

Anthony Davis scored 36 points with 15 rebounds and eight assists. Austin Reaves finished with 26 points, a career-high 16 assists and six rebounds. Rui Hachimura went 4-5 from behind the arc and scored 21 points with four rebounds and two blocks.

With LeBron James out, Gabe Vincent replaced him in the starting lineup. Unfortunately, he suffered an oblique strain and was out for the rest of the game after just six minutes of play. Max Christie finished with 16 points. Dalton Knecht had 18 points.

Austin started with five straight points. AD jumped in and made all five of his first shot attempts. Max contributed two 3-pointers. Former Laker Malik Monk was cooking early, going three for four from the field, including two three-pointers. At the first timeout, LA had a lead of five.

After Sacramento took the lead, a layup from Rui put the Lakers up by one. After LA won a coaching challenge, they had the ball and D’Angelo Russell sank a three-pointer. The Lakers found some momentum on offense and extended their lead to 11 with Dalton scoring four straight points. At the end of the first period, Los Angeles had a lead of nine.

DeMar DeRozan started the second quarter brilliantly, scoring five points from mid-range. The shots that the Kings missed in the first quarter were now starting to drop. Going into the first timeout, LA had a two-point lead.

Rui hit a much-needed 3-pointer to halt some of the momentum Sacramento had. The Lakers had difficulty shooting and missed far too many free throws.

Without LeBron, the purple and gold lacked the extra energy that would cause even more problems for the Kings. The defense was nonexistent, which contributed to Sacramento’s quick scoring pace.

As we’ve seen, the Lakers have a hard time finishing the half well. Thanks to De’Aaron Fox, who scored four straight points, the Kings took a one-point lead at halftime.

The Kings extended their lead to three early in the third period. Austin responded with a 3-pointer to tie the game again. Unfortunately for the Lakers, Max got two fouls in a row, which put him in foul trouble.

Eventually, the Lakers got rolling offensively thanks to Rui getting aggressive and scoring inside. The purple and gold went on a 7-0 run to extend their lead to eight, forcing Sacramento to call a timeout.

Four minutes before the end of the quarter, Sabonis got into foul trouble and scored his fifth goal. Los Angeles began to distance itself and rose double digits.

After Sacramento tried everything to bring the game to eight points, the Lakers ended the quarter with a 17-point lead.

Dalton opened the final frame with a 3-pointer. Sacramento had a rough start to the quarter, with DeMar being the only King to score. Then the Lakers started missing some of their shots and the Kings started getting hotter.

LA had to call a timeout when the lead was down to 13.

Fox single-handedly reduced the deficit to eight. However, the Kings had to play the rest of the game without Sabonis, who committed a foul.

Sacramento didn’t give up, finishing with two possessions with 3:39 left. The Los Angeles defense looked desperate, but the Kings missed a few shots and Max hit a three-pointer to put LA back in the lead by double digits.

Despite their courageous efforts, the Kings failed and were unable to mount a comeback.

Key Takeaways:

Big credit goes to Christian Koloko, who has done a good job as the only true backup center for the team. He did a lot of the dirty work and did well on dunks.

It’s good to see Rui is back in good shape with his punches. He was automatically behind the arc again.

The Lakers’ next game is against the Cleveland Cavaliers on New Year’s Eve at 6:00 p.m. PT.

You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.