It got out of hand for the Lakers early on in the City of Brotherly Love, as they lost 138–94. The fact that the Sixers got off to a slow start and couldn’t make any of their three-point shots quickly made this game a foregone result.

Los Angeles would like to forget this game very quickly. The only good thing about it is that LeBron James reached another important milestone. With over 66,298 minutes played in regular season and playoff games, he now has more minutes played than any other player in NBA history.

The first quarter did not go well for the Lakers because they let the Sixers go on a 20-2 run in the middle of the quarter, putting them back in a bad position to start the game. Their start wasn’t as bad as when they played the Cavaliers and gave up 40 points in the first, but being down 32–19 after one is still not good.

The Lakers had trouble with the three-ball for the rest of the half. They couldn’t protect it, so the Sixers shot 22–46 from beyond the arc, and they only made 7–28 from beyond the arc themselves.

Former “wing” and professional NBA pest Patrick Beverley piled on. He scored all nine of his first-half points from downtown and cheered himself on to remind the Lakers he is still alive.

Philadelphia went into the second half down by 15, and the only thing that stopped them was a broken clock that made the third quarter start later than planned. Once the game started, things went pretty much as planned, and the Sixers built their lead to 18 points going into the last 12 minutes.

James did play in the fourth quarter, but there was no fake return tonight because the Sixers wouldn’t let up and kept putting the pressure on in the early going of the fifth.

With 8:18 left, the Lakers did something they hadn’t done much all year: they took their bench players off early. This was a sign of their loss, as the rest of the game was just garbage time.

Main Points

If you can’t protect or hit the three, things will go badly, especially on the road. Philly is one of the best teams in the league, and it’s almost impossible to win if you’re down by 25 points in the first half.

After this loss, L.A. has to quickly forget about it because they still have two games left on this road trip. The next one is on Wednesday against the failing Detroit Pistons. In order for this trip to be a success, there would have to be at least one split. A win would guarantee that.