The 76ers took advantage of the absence of LeBron James to impose themselves relatively comfortably on the Lakers. The Pennsylvania team took the duel 105-87 taking advantage of the fact that the forward was sidelined due to knee discomfort, which left his team with another loss of weight on the second night of Anthony Davis after his return. Despite everything, the Angelenos managed not to lose the trail of the locals for many minutes, but finally the power of Philadelphia ended up prevailing and giving Rivers’s team their 29th victory.
It was in the third quarter when the 76ers finished taking off, as a 16-3 run shot the difference up to 22 points (88-66) and left the match very much on track. Los Angeles efforts to reduce the deficit in the final stretch were not enough to tighten the game again, so that the important men of Philadelphia were able to rest in the last minutes with the satisfaction of the job accomplished.
As usual, Joel Embiid was in charge of commanding his own, although this time he did it with a somewhat more earthly version than the one he has offered in the last 10 days. The center finished with 26 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists, and had an exciting duel with Davis in the paint. Tobias Harris, for his part, followed closely with 23 points, which he reached on a night of great success in which he scored 10 of the 15 shots he executed.
Among the secondary, Tyrese Maxey and George Niang were the most outstanding, both with 14 points. The point guard also managed to distribute 10 assists, while the forward led the second unit once again providing the team with outside shooting, as he finished with a 4/6 in triples.
For the Lakers, the great news was the good image of Anthony Davis, who with 32 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks recalled his best version and showed that he is well prepared to help the Lakers in this final stretch of the season. After giving the scare in an action in which his wrist seemed to be damaged and he had to head to the locker room for a few minutes, La Ceja returned to the track deploying all his resources on both sides of the pitch, in charge of keeping his team alive as long as possible.
However, without LeBron to support him and without anyone else stepping up, the Angelenos ended up going down without much opposition. Russell Westbrook, with 20 points, was practically the only one to offer help to Davis, because apart from him only Malik Monk, author of 11 points, finished in double figures in scoring, but his 3/13 shooting prevents him from being saved from the burning
“LeBron is a very important part of this team and is key to our goals, so it’s a shame we couldn’t have him tonight,” Davis acknowledged. “However, that helps us see what other resources we have. We have to take advantage of these moments in that sense.
(Portrait photo: Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)
