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| - The Sacramento Kings drained 21 three-pointers Thursday in a 136-122 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, who took it easy in their last game before the NBA playoffs begin next week. Buddy Hield scored 28 points and Bogdan Bogdanovic added 27 as the Kings notched just their third victory in the NBA's season restart quarantine "bubble" at Orlando, Florida. The Kings will now be heading home, while LeBron James and the Lakers, already assured of the top seed in the Western Conference playoffs, wait to see who they will face when the first round begins. James, who was listed as "questionable" for the game with a sore right groin, scored 17 points in less than 15 minutes of action -- all in the first half. Dion Waiters led the Lakers with 19 points and Markieff Morris added 14. "I think our guys are ready to get into that playoff environment," Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. "LeBron was able to get in, get a little bit of rhythm so he doesn't have such a long layoff between games ... So there were plenty of positives, but we certainly need to play better than today." While the Lakers needed just three games after the restart to clinch top spot in the conference, the battle for the eighth seed has remained intense -- and won't be determined until a play-in game at the weekend. The four teams chasing the two play-in game berths -- Portland, Memphis, Phoenix and San Antonio -- were all in action later Thursday. bb/js
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