Los Angeles Lakers dominated by Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons
By Tadi Abedje
The Los Angeles Lakers suffered a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night, as the 76ers’ young talent was on full display.
Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons led the 76ers to a 115-109 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. Embiid was dominant as he had a career-high 46 points on 14 of 20 shooting and made 19 of 19 free throws. The big man added 15 rebounds, seven assists and seven blocks to his stat line. He was scoring in the paint with an array of moves and made two three-pointers.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, he was the first player since Julius Erving in 1982 to score over 40 points and at least seven assists and seven blocks in a game.
Simmons, on the other hand, almost had a triple-double by scoring 18 points, 9 rebounds and dishing out 10 assists. He has similar skills to Lonzo Ball in their playmaking abilities. The difference is that he has the height advantage (6 foot 10) that helps him in making the right plays.
For the Lakers, it was a tough way to start their four-game homestand. In the midst of letting Embiid doing work on the Laker bigs and Simmons almost having a triple double, they had an opportunity to get a home victory. But they only shot 38.5 from the field and three of 27 percent from three-point land.
Lonzo Ball had another rough performance as he had two points on one of nine shooting (0-6 on threes). He did not play again in the fourth quarter because he was missing open shots consistently.
However, there were some bright spots as Brandon Ingram had a career-high 26 points and brought down 11 rebounds. He was aggressive in looking for his shot and driving to the basket when he had opportunities. Kyle Kuzma also had a career-high by scoring 24 points on nine of 18 from the floor.
LA’s bench played well as Jordan Clarkson scored 20 points, six rebounds and five assists in 32 minutes. Andrew Bogut gave them good production as he had 10 rebounds and six points in 19 minutes. Julius Randle added eight points and eight rebounds.
Next: Lonzo Ball has been a disappointment
The Lakers (6-9) will play the Phoenix Suns (5-10) for the third time this season as part of their four game homestand.