The Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Sacramento Kings on Thursday at the buzzer, and small forward Kyle Kuzma is pinning the loss on his shoulders.
The Lakers were up by 15 points with just over six minutes left in regulation. It looked like they were headed to an easy victory. However, the Kings went on a crazy run and tied the game at 112 when Kyle Kuzma fouled Kings forward Justin Jackson on a 3-point attempt.
Sacramento swingman Bogdan Bogdanović then broke the hearts of Laker Nation when he hit a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer. Kuzma told reporters after the game the team shouldn't have been in that position in the first place.
“We were a little out of composed,” Kuzma said, via Ron Gutterman of Lakers Nation. “I’ll take [blame] for that. Fouling a three-point shooter, we probably never would’ve been in that situation if I didn’t do that. But it’s a learning lesson. We’ve got to do a better job closing out games and just being composed.”
Kuzma finished with 33 points, nine rebounds and four assists in the loss. He shot 12-of-24 from the field, 2-of-8 from the 3-point line and 7-of-9 from the free-throw line.
Like Kuzma said, Thursday night was a learning lesson for the team. Without LeBron James and Rajon Rondo on the court and in the huddle to help the young players out, everyone on the team is going to have to step up in their absence and learn from their past mistakes.