The Los Angeles Lakers (10-11) fell back below .500 after a disappointing triple-overtime loss to the sputtering Sacramento Kings at the Staples Center on Friday — their first home game since a five-game East Coast road trip.

It was the Lakers' fourth OT game in 11 days, and fifth on the season — they're now 1-4 in contests longer than 48 minutes. The Lakers dropped to 7-6 overall and 5-3 against teams with a losing record at home.

Any way you slice it, this defeat marked another untimely moment of regression for the Lakers, which has been a theme of the Lakers' roller-coaster season. In the words of Olivia Rodrigo, “one step forward, three steps back.”

In Anthony Davis' words, the Lakers 141-137 loss — in which they blew yet another double-digit second-half lead to a lottery team — the Lakesrs are “very frustrated.” Davis had 23 points (4-of-13 FG), eight rebounds and a team-worst -16 in 49 minutes.

“Wanted to come home and win games, that was the first game after the long road trip,” Davis said. “But that’s a game we definitely could’ve won. We made some mistakes, granted they hit some tough shots so credit to them down the stretch. They hit some tough shots, but it’s a game that we had control of in the fourth and let it get away. And then overtimes did enough, and then once again they made some tough shots, made some big plays.”

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5ZkB0Afb0eKhGDSO3sDGR4?si=503494b4be7b45d8

The Lakers hoped their fourth-quarter rally against the Detroit Pistons following LeBron's ejection would be a momentum builder. Then, James was suspended, Davis fell ill, and the Lakers fell haplessly to the New York Knicks. The following night, they seemed to get their swagger back, ignited by LeBron's masterful clutch performance vs. the Indiana Pacers.

“It was one that we kind of wanted to win to keep this streak going,” Davis lamented. “We got a nice little schedule and this is a time where we can’t keep saying ‘short season, short season.’ We got to be able to win basketball games and put a string of wins together in a row.”

The Lakers will face the Pistons (4-15) at home on Sunday, head north for a rematch with the Kings, then return to downtown Los Angeles for consecutive nationally-televised matchups against the Los Angeles Clippers (Dec. 3) and Boston Celtics (Dec. 7).