The Lakers are still in the extended postseason picture, but they will almost certainly finish with their 7th losing record in nine years.
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The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Los Angeles Lakers 126-121 on Wednesday night as the LeBron-less Lakers couldn’t overcome Joel Embiid‘s 30 points and 10 rebounds, and James Harden’s 24 points. The Sixers upset the up-and-down Lakers in a tougher-than-expected win two nights after shocking Eastern Conference-leading Miami despite playing without Embiid and Harden.
we’ve got lobs. pic.twitter.com/dOK0uk0ZiK
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) March 24, 2022
After the match, Harden said, “Guys played well. Obviously, we wanted to play a lot better, especially defensively. But we’ll take the win, and we’ve just got to continue to get better in these last games before the playoffs.”
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James pulled out due to sore knees, putting an end to a possible battle between the NBA’s top scorer and Embiid, who was only a point behind him. Coach Doc Rivers regarded 76ers second-half effort behind its stars as a positive indicator for the process of Embiid and newcomer Harden becoming a team before the playoff starts.
The Lakers roster put up a valiant fight, with Dwight Howard scoring a season-high 24 points and Malik Monk adding 23, but the Lakers fell for the 11th time in 15 games, falling 11 games below.500 (31-42).
The Lakers are still in the extended postseason picture, but they will almost certainly finish with their 7th losing record in nine years. They’ve had the same amount of losing seasons in the preceding 53 years, dating back to 1960 when they relocated from Minneapolis to Los Angeles.
Lakers coach Frank Vogel said, “We’re making progress. We’re building habits that are going to win for us in the postseason, and we’re continuing to grow. We’re disappointed we lost, but without Bron, without AD, the group that played showed everyone we’ve still got a whole lot of fight left in us.”
In the second half, Philadelphia led by 14, but the Lakers closed to within 93-91 heading into the fourth quarter. Los Angeles concentrated their defence on Embiid, but Maxey and Tobias Harris scored clutch jumpers as Philly held on.
Russell Westbrook had 24 points and a steal and layup with 32 seconds left to cut Philadelphia’s advantage to four points before the Sixers nailed their free throws to put the game away. Harris scored nine of his 20 points in the second half.
