LeBron James had the entire world keeping an eye on him soon after he began his 21st season in the NBA. But in the third game of the campaign, the 38-year-old had to go through a bitter deja-vu moment against the Sacramento Kings. In a rematch against De’Aaron Fox’s side, he had to face the same fate from 20 years back.

It added a layer of concern to the ongoing form of the Los Angeles Lakers as they failed to build on their win in the previous game. As for James, history repeated itself, as he had to relive the misery of his NBA debut.

LeBron James fails to win his debut rematch

The Kings started the game on the front foot on their home court as they registered a 132-127 win over the Lakers. The anticipated rematch from LeBron’s debut game back in 2003 for the Cleveland Cavaliers faced a similar outcome. That year in October, he had lost with a scoreline of 106-92 despite scoring 25 points himself.

The current matchup turned back the pages as the hosts led by 13 points at the end of the first quarter. The visitors diminished the margin well in each of the following quarters as the scores tied at 115 after the fourth quarter. So, the game went to overtime where a former Laker, Malik Monk, came on his own to help his squad win.

The Kings marched to a victory with a 17-12 overtime triumph with Monk scoring 11 of those 17 points. In fact, he scored 50% of his 22-point night after the fourth quarter as he dominated on the floor. Kings’ talisman, Fox, also held the fort well with he registered 37-4-8.

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As for the Lakers, their inability to close out the matches came to the forefront yet again. James and Anthony Davis tried to pull through as they combined for a 57-point and 31 rebounds night away from home. These efforts were inadequate as the roster fell short at times, eventually costing them the match.

Failure to close the matches out

This night once again displayed the squad’s inability to see through the games. The Lakers made an astonishing comeback in the last quarter of the match. After a 9-2 run to force overtime in the last few moments, the momentum was in their favor.

The Kings did not allow their opposition to grow more into the match as the Lakers struggled from the start of overtime. It was the story throughout the first half as they shot only 39.5% from the field on top of committing 12 turnovers. They lacked consistency in their scoring, which allowed the likes of Monk to take over the game.

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With a lot of areas to improve, the time is running out for the LA side. Can they fix their problems within the next few weeks? Let us know in the comments below.