March 12th, 2017

The Lakers lost to the 76ers on Sunday night at Staples Center, 118-116, in a game between two lottery bound teams.  Jordan Clarkson had a career-best 30 points and helped the Lakers rally from a 12-point deficit late in the game, but it wasn’t enough.

Dario Saric scored a career-high 29 points for Philadelphia, and Jahlil Okafor added 23.  T.J. McConnell’s hit a 12-foot fallaway jumper with just under a minute left, and the 76ers never gave up the lead from there.

Tomothe Luwawu-Cabarrot scored 18 points for the 76ers, and Julius Randle put up 21 points and 12 rebounds for the Lakers.

The Lakers trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half, but used an 8-2 to tie the game at 65 by halftime.

Their execution late in the game though was problematic.  D’Angelo Russell airballed a last minute 3-point try, and looked to be confused about the time remaining on the shot clock.  Randle fouled Gerald Henderson after he was double teamed and looked to be in trouble, and Clarkson missed a key free throw in the final seconds.

“The effort and the intentions were in the right place, which is a good start,” Lakers Coach Luke Walton said. “The actual execution of it wasn’t good enough to win the game tonight.”

The good news for the Lakers was that the game helped them in the lottery standings.  The 76ers receive the Lakers 1st round pick if it falls out of the top 3 in this years draft.  The Lakers remained with the 2nd worst record in the NBA after Sunday’s loss.