ANAHEIM — The Lakers have yet to play a true “home” game so far during the preseason, but you wouldn’t have been able to tell during Wednesday night’s 109-101 victory over the Sacramento Kings.

Even with the Lakers sitting three-fifths of their known starting lineup to begin the regular season, purple and gold paraphernalia was spread out throughout the Honda Center – a little more than 30 miles southeast of the team’s Crypto.com Arena.

Everything the Lakers did well received a strong ovation from the crowd, including when Anthony Davis walked onto the floor for his pregame on-court routine. Or when Davis and LeBron James, both in street clothes, joined the team on the bench and were shown on the jumbotron.

But once the game started, D’Angelo Russell, the Lakers’ lone known starter who played, gave the crowd plenty to cheer for.

Russell led the Lakers with 21 points (8-of-12 shooting, 2 for 5 from 3-point range), eight assists, three rebounds, one steal and a blocked shot in 21 minutes.

After playing 16 minutes apiece and having his playing time limited to the first half in the first two preseason games, Russell’s minutes were ramped up Wednesday, helping give the Lakers a boost when they needed it.

He scored or assisted on 13 consecutive points midway through the third quarter, including knocking down back-to-back pull-up 3-pointers as part of a 13-3 run to give the Lakers a 70-62 lead before he was subbed out for the duration.

Russell averaged 14.5 points on 61% shooting (75% from behind the arc) in the first two preseason games.

“D-Lo has been phenomenal,” Ham said pregame. “Just really the communication between he and his teammates, he and myself, making sure we get exactly what we want out of the offense and the beginning stages, laying the foundation. He’s been awesome.

“We understand there is a lot more cohesiveness as opposed to last year at this time and D-Lo is right at the forefront of that. He’s commanding the ball, making good reads, shooting the ball well, competing defensively. So, everything is in a good space.”

Gabe Vincent added 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting while Rui Hachimura, Taurean Prince and Christian Wood each scored 13 points apiece.

“We spoke to them about just having the right mentality and the right mission,” Ham said. “And we reiterated that at halftime – specifically to some of our young guys – of the type of approach you got to have to play at this level. Everybody embraced the message. Our older guys did immediately, and then a couple of our young guys woke up at halftime and came out and really took their play to another level. Things are not going to always be perfect. But as long as you keep swinging at it and trying to put your best foot forward, you’ll be great.”

James, Davis and Austin Reaves sat for rest. Cam Reddish (right ankle soreness) and Jarred Vanderbilt (left heel soreness) also didn’t play and remain day to day.

Davis played 27 combined minutes – all in the first halves – in the first two preseason games. James and Reaves made their preseason debuts in Monday’s victory over the Brooklyn Nets in Las Vegas.

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James previously said he plans to play in half of the team’s six preseason games, and Ham confirmed that remains the plan.

The Lakers will play the Golden State Warriors on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena and the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday in Los Angeles before closing out their exhibition slate against the Phoenix Suns on Oct. 19 in Palm Springs.

“The approach right now is just to maximize each and every day,” Ham responded when asked what the ramp-up period will look like for James in the regular season. “Whether it’s an off day for him – he’s just not playing in the game but he’s still active in terms of working on his body, getting on the court getting reps in.

“It’s easy with him navigating these so-called challenges of the unknown because he takes such good care of himself and (is) constantly preparing himself. Again, not just being available but available at the highest. We’ll just take it day by day and see where it goes.”