The Lakers lost 138–94 in the City of Brotherly Love because things got out of hand early on. The Sixers got off to a slow start and couldn’t make any of their quick three-point shots, so this game was already over.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72907836/1817523435.0.jpg)
LA would like to forget about this game fast. Only one good thing came out of it: LeBron James reached another big goal. During the regular season and playoffs, he played more minutes than any other player in NBA history. He now has over 66,298 minutes played.
Lakers had a bad first quarter because they let the Sixers go on a 20-2 run in the middle of the quarter. This put them back in a bad spot to start the game. After one, they were down 32–19, which is still not good. It wasn’t as bad as when they played the Cavaliers and gave up 40 points in the first.
For the rest of the half, the Lakers had trouble with the three-ball. Because they couldn’t keep it safe, the Sixers made 22–46 shots from beyond the line, while they only made 7–28.
Even more was said by Patrick Beverley, a former “wing” and professional NBA jerk. He made all nine of his first-half three-point shots and cheered for himself to show the Lakers that he was still alive.
Philadelphia was down 15 points going into the second half. The only thing that stopped them was a broken clock that made the third quarter start later than planned. When the game began, everything went pretty much as planned. The Sixers built their lead to 18 points before the last 12 minutes.
Since the Sixers wouldn’t let up in the beginning of the fifth, James didn’t play in the fourth quarter, and there was no fake return tonight.
The Lakers did something they hadn’t done much all year: they took player off the bench early with 8:18 left. They had already lost because the rest of the game was just filler.
Important Points
Things will not go well if you can’t hit or guard the three. This is especially true on the road. It’s almost impossible to win when you’re down 25 points in the first half against one of the best teams in the league, Philadelphia.
L.A. needs to forget about this loss quickly because they still have two games on this road trip. They play the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday, which is their next game. There would need to be at least one break for this trip to make sense. That would be certain if they won.