Lakers fall to Sixers in third straight loss.
LOS ANGELES — The Lakers’ late-game woes continued to haunt them in their 4th quarter loss to the 76ers, falling to Philadelphia on the final possession by one point, 113–112, losing their third straight game and dropping their record to 19–24.
Despite having two timeouts, the Lakers immediately started their offense after a defensive stop with 15 seconds left on the clock. Russell Westbrook was matched up against Joel Embiid, a matchup that the Lakers wanted, Westbrook went straight at Embiid, taking a lot of contact before heaving the ball as time ran out.
“Down one, you got one of our best playmakers to the rim, I’ll take that scenario every day of the week, and twice on Sunday, we just have to finish the play,” said head coach Darvin Ham on the final possession.
Before the game, LeBron was just 11 points away from achieving 38,000 points, surpassing it with 5:36 left in the first quarter after a deep jumper from above the free throw line.
LeBron James becomes the second player in NBA history to score 38,000 career points, getting closer to all-time leader Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s total of 38,387 points.
LeBron finished with a game-high 35 points on 65% shooting by going 15-for-23 total from the field, adding 10 assists, 8 rebounds, 1 block, and 1 steal in 31 minutes of action.
“We got the stop, gave ourselves a chance to win, and didn’t execute,” said LeBron on the execution in Sunday’s loss.
Russell Westbrook was the Lakers’ second leading scorer with a triple-double that was overlooked due to a game-losing possession that could have been better executed.
Westbrook finished with a solid triple-double outing of 20 points, 14 rebounds, and 11 assists in 33 minutes while shooting 50% on 7-for-14.
“I couldn’t get my hand up to shoot because [Embiid] was grabbing it,” said Westbrook on the final play.
Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid spoke on the play, saying: “I don’t think I fouled him. He was unlucky because he lost the ball. I would say he was unlucky.”
The Lakers remain at home for their matchup tomorrow night against the 10–33 Houston Rockets at 7:30 PM on Spectrum SportsNet and NBA TV.
