This should have been a highly anticipated match between the duo LeBron James – Anthony Davis and the 76ers’ new “twin duo” including reigning MVP Joel Embiid and defender Tyrese Maxey.
However, the match was only tense in the first 6 minutes before the Philadelphia 76ers created a 20-2 run to take a deep lead right from the first half. Gradually the gap reached 20 and 30 before stopping at the number. 44.
The score in the fourth quarter of this match was 40-14 in favor of the 76ers even though the main Philly team returned to the bench. From a match that was expected to be extremely worth watching, the Los Angeles Lakers played weakly to receive a final defeat of 138-94 against the Philadelphia 76ers.
MVP Joel Embiid took only 3 rounds to bag his 6th triple-double since the beginning of the season, scoring 30 points with 11 rebounds, 11 assists with 9-15 FG. Tyrese Maxey is right behind with 31 points, 8 assists, 5 successful 3-pointers and no turnover in 26 minutes.
In contrast to the 76ers’ tandem, Anthony Davis was very hot with 8 points (4-4 FG) in the first 3 minutes of the match, but from then on he only scored 9 more points (3- 10 FG) in nearly 30 minutes of play. Bigman Lakers finished the game with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
LeBron James had 18 points, 5 assists and no rebounds. This is the first time in more than 13 years that James has had a 0-rebound game, when he was still playing for the Miami Heat in the 2010-11 season.
The 138-94 defeat also marked a sad record for the Los Angeles Lakers as this was the heaviest loss in more than 6 years. At the same time, this is the fifth largest defeat in the club’s history .
It should be noted that the Lakers are missing many key players in this competition, including the latest injury to Rui Hachimura. The Japanese Bigman is expected to be sidelined for 1 week because he recently had minor surgery on his nasal spine.
Having tomorrow off, LeBron James and his teammates will then play back-to-back with away trips to the Detroit Pistons and Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday and Friday (Vietnam time).
As for the Philadelphia 76ers, they will travel to New Orleans on Thursday morning to create a competition between big men Joel Embiid and Zion Williamson. The 76ers will then face East rival Boston Celtics on Saturday morning.
