SACRAMENTO – The test was evident when the Lakers received their schedule for the 2024-25 season.

They made a trip to Sacramento to face the Kings twice, two games against a team whose pace and physicality were the difference in several years of dominance against the Lakers.

If the Lakers somehow managed to beat the Kings in their first meeting at the Golden 1 Center, they would have to try again a day and a half later.

In the first few months of the schedule, the Lakers had seemingly exorcised their Kings’ demons. They beat them in the first week of the season, quieting the noise about Domantas Sabonis’ dominance over Anthony Davis. On Thursday, in their first game against the Kings in Sacramento, Davis was great and Lakers coach JJ Redick called it his “favorite win” of the season.

To do it again? This would require sustained attention, sustained effort and sustained implementation. As coach Doc Rivers always told Redick’s Clippers teams, the Lakers had to stay on the ropes in the tug-of-war.

The Lakers led by as many as 10 points late in the fourth period before the game began to slip out of their hands. After failed coverages, poor offensive possessions and missed free throws, only remnants of that rope were left in the Lakers’ hands.

It wasn’t much. But they were there.

Rui Hachimura’s offensive rebound after Davis missed two free throws with 12.1 seconds left prevented the Kings from tying the score or taking the lead, and the Lakers held on for a tough 103-99 win.

James scored 32 points in a game after setting the NBA’s minutes record for regular season games by harassing the Kings on offense and picking up four steals on defense. D’Angelo Russell scored 20 off the bench and Davis finished the night with 15 rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots.

The Lakers, who have won three straight, host Detroit on Monday in Los Angeles.