Los Angeles Lakers lose but Brandon Ingram shines vs. Philadelphia 76ers

The Los Angeles Lakers may have lost to the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night, but Brandon Ingram showed just how much potential he has.

The Los Angeles Lakers are in a major state of turmoil right now. Not just because of the injuries to Kyle Kuzma or Lonzo Ball that kept them out of this game. Not because LeBron James has been out for the longest stretch of his career. The problem, right now, is that it’s anyone’s guess on what’s going on with the franchise.

It has taken its toll on everyone from Luke Walton and his coaching staff to most of the roster. You could tell in the first five minutes of the game. You will notice that I said most of the roster…

Why?

Because Brandon Ingram came to play against the Philadelphia 76ers. It was a real shame that he was basically facing the gauntlet alone as the Lakers lost to the 76ers 121-105 in a game that wasn’t even that close. If Ingram doesn’t electrify the crowd with an amazing run in the first half, the Staples Center crowd would have left early to beat the traffic.

Brandon Ingram had a career night scoring 36 points, grabbing five rebounds and dishing out five assists. But that is not the story.

Ingram could not be stopped by Philly. Ingram followed up a game where he shot 9-of-11 in a victory over the Suns, with a shooting performance of 16-of-20 from the field in this game.

Ingram is on a two-game tear that we haven’t seen since that Kobe Bryant dude went into retirement (Before you start making comments, LeBron hasn’t shot 25-of-31 from the field over a two-game stretch this year!).

The Lakers are now 6-11 without LeBron James in the lineup and have fallen to 1-2 since the return of Rajon Rondo. With this listless loss coupled with the loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves last week, it seems that the Lakers problems are starting to run deep.

The problems seem to start at the beginning…like the beginning of games. The Sixers jumped out to a 14-2 lead before the singer on the National Anthem could get off the floor. After facing a 39-20 deficit at the end of the first quarter, the Sixers’ lead climbed to 24 points before the Lakers went on a 16-0 run led by Ingram’s explosion to get the lead manageable.

After the slow starts gets dealt with, the Lakers can move on to this turnover situation, because they handed out free points to the Sixers like bobblehead dolls totaling 34 points.

A special shout out goes to JaVale McGee, who competed as well banging against Joel Embiid scoring 17 points and grabbing 14 rebounds.

Plus, he caught somebody under the rim for one of the nastiest dunks of the year!   

Rajon Rondo finished with 11 assists and seven rebounds. He has now tallied 38 assists over the three games since his return.

But this game is about Brandon Ingram.

Let’s talk about him!