Kings’ Zach LaVine after 1-7 start: ‘It’s just frustrating when you play hard’

Zach LaVine saw opportunities to attack the Lakers’ defense. He also saw the Lakers doing a better job of attacking his own team.

“They’ve got some bad defenders on their team, but so do we, so they exploited them,” LaVine told reporters after the Kings’ 116-103 loss Wednesday, via Logan Struck of Sports Illustrated.

That’s a fairly direct assessment. At 1-7, the Kings don’t have much reason to dress things up.

LaVine included himself when discussing another problem. Sacramento committed 18 turnovers, six by LaVine, and the Lakers turned those mistakes into 23 points.

“We gotta cut down on turnovers. I had a couple of dumb ones, and we had just a couple of unfortunate plays too,” LaVine said. “But versus a team like the Lakers, who’ve been hot, and Luka goes for 20-something in the second quarter. … They’re a big team. They send everything to Kessler.”

The Kings have enough trouble getting stops without handing opponents extra possessions. Against Luka Doncic, those mistakes become particularly expensive.

Doncic finished with 40 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. LaVine wasn’t about to suggest that performance was entirely a product of Sacramento’s shortcomings.

“Luka’s one of the most talented players of all time. I don’t think people actually give him enough credit for how good he really is,” LaVine said. “The shot-making ability is insane. … He’s one of the best scorers of all time.”

As for the Kings, LaVine said the effort is there.

“It’s just frustrating when you play hard and you give it your all,” he said. “No one’s gonna be perfect, regardless of how much you try or whatever, but it’s just unfortunate sometimes. But we’re still competing.”

Competing is a start. Taking care of the ball would give that effort a better chance to produce something.

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