The Sacramento Kings (18 - 23) defeated the Los Angeles Lakers (9 - 35) 112 - 93 at Staples Center on Wednesday. The Kings improved to 6 - 4 over their last 10 games, as DeMarcus Cousins and Rajon Rondo continue to mesh in coach George Karl’s system. While the Kings are still five games under .500 on the season, they are still in playoff contention and trail the Trail Blazers by two games for the 8 - seed in the Western Conference. DeMarcus Cousins was an unstoppable force in the win, as the Lakers had no way of matching up against him. Cousins finished with 36 points, 16 rebounds and five assists on 13 - of - 22 shooting. Many of Cousins buckets came off of Rajon Rondo’s supreme court vision, in which the point guard dished out a whopping 17 assists. The Kentucky product is back on form halfway through the season after a mishap in Dallas last year, and over his last 10 games, Rondo is averaging 12 assists. Sacramento was efficient from the midrange and in the restricted area as shown by their 48 percent shooting as a unit. The Kings will host the Atlanta Hawks (26 - 17) on Thursday. The Lakers woes continued as they fell short of grabbing their 10th win of the season and are now owners of a four game losing streak. While they were able to improve upon their shot selection, the shots simply did not fall in their favor. Roy Hibbert was ineffective as a rim protector when matched up against Cousins, but he is not the only Lakers player to blame, considering Cousins trucked everybody in his path. Kobe Bryant (achilles) played 31 minutes in front of the hometown crowd, and as we are inching closer and closer to a Kobe-less Lakers, the precious moments of a truly great player become a little more heartwarming, or sickening, depending on how you look at it. Bryant scored 15 points on 4 - of - 13 shooting, while the backcourt duo of Jordan Clarkson and D’Angelo Russell combined for 28 points and six assists. It was rewarding to see D’Angelo Russell run the offense for most of the 3rd quarter, and maybe Byron Scott will lean towards developing the youth more and focusing on Kobe a little less. Brandon Bass had one of his better games of the season and contributed 18 points and seven rebounds off the bench. The Lakers will look to bust out of their slump when they host the San Antonio Spurs (36 - 6) on Friday.
["PlayerStat(G,'DeMarcus Cousins') has 10 Assists ,has 22 Defensive rebounds ,has 13 Field goals attempted ,has 10 Field goals made ,has 36 Free throws made ,has 16 Minutes played ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Rajon Rondo') has 17 Assists ,has 10 Defensive rebounds ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Kobe Bryant') has 13 Assists ,has 4 Defensive rebounds ,has 31 Field goals attempted ,has 15 Field goals made ,has 1 Free throws made ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'D'Angelo Russell') has 1 Assists ."
 "PlayerStat(G,'Brandon Bass') has 18 Assists ,has 7 Defensive rebounds ,has 1 Field goals attempted ."]