Defense fails Lakers in loss to Kings

SACRAMENTO -- Lakers coach Mike Brown was a happy camper after they gave the Chicago Bulls fits with their defensive pressure in their season opener Sunday. He wasn't as pleased with their effort during tonight's 100-91 loss to the Sacramento Kings.

After all, the Kings shot holes in Brown's defensive scheme, making 9 of 18 from behind the 3-point arc (50 percent) and 35 of 75 overall (46.7 percent). The Kings broke down the Lakers' defense with drives and passes to the perimeter.

More often than not, the Kings had easy paths to the basket.

"We were trying to get stops," Brown said. "We were trying to limit the amounts of straight-line drives that they were able to do. We were able to do that for a while, and that got us back into the game."

In fact, the Lakers rallied from a 15-point deficit to cut the Kings' lead to 89-87 with 4:24 remaining, but then failed to box out at the free throw line and Sacramento was able to hold on for its first home victory over the Lakers in six games.

"Teams are going to get 3-point shots against us if we let them drive past us during the game and kick it out," Brown said. "We allowed them to get past us. When we would collapse on defense, they would kick the ball out to the open man for the 3.

"Anybody will be able to knock those shots down."