Welcome in to the full recap of the Lakers' matchup vs. the Philadelphia 76ers where the Lakers competed down to the wire behind big games from Ingram, Kuzma, and Clarkson. But, the Lakers found no answer for Joel Embiid and his 46 point performance as the Sixers beat the Lakers 115-109.
As an NBA fan, this was a very good battle to see between two young teams with bright outlooks and the young talent showed out tonight. Unfortunately, as a Laker fan, the Lakers lost this one. It began with the bad start in the 1st quarter. The Lakers let Philly run over them, which is uncharacteristic for a team that has improved defensively. But, they tightened up and played their game and they scratched and clawed back in. It's just that they couldn't stop Joel Embiid down the stretch. He's just that good. It's a sign of relief that he's setting an example that the big man game in the NBA is not extinct just yet. That's where I gotta tip my hat to the Sixers.
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Brandon Ingram, 26 points, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks, 11-18 shooting. B.I. was dead quiet in the last three road games the Lakers had on their 4-game trip. Tonight was one way to get out of the funk. The biggest thing to take away from this game was that he was on target on a majority of his jump shots. Whether tonight was flukey remains in question, but he looked confident taking those shots. Not to mention, in terms of attacking the basket, he was going hard at Embiid. That too should be a huge confidence booster that B.I. can take on anyone anchoring the inside defensively.
Jordan Clarkson, 20 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals. Clarkson followed through after his 25 point performance Monday night in Phoenix, notching another 20 point performance and stuffing the stat sheet. This was one of the games where I saw Clarkson playing hard. He was being aggressive and hustling out there on the floor. We gotta see more of these kinds of games from Clarkson.
Kyle Kuzma, 24 points, 7 rebounds, 9-18 shooting. Kuzma could've had the highlight of the game had he connected on the posterizing dunk on Embiid in the 2nd quarter of this game. But, he did make a sweet baby hook shot over Embiid as compensation late in the 4th. Nonetheless, Kuz strung together another stellar game scoring-wise in his rookie year. He will have his bad shooting nights like he had in Boston and Phoenix, but he'll stuff the stats sheet anyway he can.
Andrew Bogut, 6 points, 10 rebounds. Between, Bogut, Lopez, and Randle, I would say Bogut did a better job at trying to slow down Joel Embiid tonight. And as you see in his stats, he was active in the boards. Most of his points came off of him securing offensive rebounds. A small positive for the Lakers tonight.
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Stopping the Process. This is also the main headline in this post game recap. The Lakers found no answer for Joel Embiid's 46 point performance tonight. He and Simmons did most of their damage inside the paint, but Embiid dealt the heavier blows to the Laker defense. The thing that makes Embiid a nightmare to D up on is that not only can he dominate on the inside, but he's just as effective on the outside. He can hit shots on top of the key and from beyond the arc. And he's got a good array of foot work. He outclassed, Bogut, Lopez, and Randle. Randle in particular received most of the abuse from the Process. The Lakers went small ball to try and slow him down, but Embiid just kept eating down low, muscling his way in and drawing contact.
Lonzo Ball, 2 points, 1-9 shooting, 0-6 three point shooting. We can expect that Ball, in some games, will look like a deer in the headlights or a pedestrian. He made some strides in the last two games, particularly against Milwaukee where he found his outside shot. Tonight, he tried to get going by shooting a couple of three-pointers to get himself going. There's nothing wrong with continuing to shoot, but I made this comment when Zo' missed his last three-point attempt: if he wants to pick up his scoring, he has to attack the basket. That's his game right now. Mark Jackson also made that point during the game as Zo' was missing threes at point blank range. The silver lining is that I'm sure Ball's gonna learn from this. The growing pains continue and we gotta stay patient.
MVP
Tonight was an excellent bounce-back game from Ingram, scoring 20+ points and shooting at an efficient percentage. Biggest plus was that he found the stroke in his jump shot tonight and still was aggressive going to the basket. We've been waiting for that kind of Kevin Durant-esque performance from him.
Conclusion
One thing that we can take away from this game is that the Sixers have established their young core and are gonna eventually build around them. The Lakers are closely behind. The young core just has to continue to make strides in their development. But, they are competing game-by-game. And there's nothing bad we can say about that. Not much more to say about this game. It just looks like the Sixers are ready to take the next step in their rebuilding process. The next nationally televised game, Lakers take a trip to Sacramento to take on the Kings next Wednesday night. Are we finally gonna see Lonzo Ball vs. De'Aaron Fox on the NBA scale after their epic UCLA-Kentucky duels last year? We just gotta hope that both stay healthy between now and that game. I'll see you guys for that. It's back to Quick Fact Check and Commentary posts on Laker games between now and next Wednesday. I'll see you guys later.
