Joel Embiid signed the first triple double of his season this Monday, in just three quarters, and led the Philadelphia 76ers’ overwhelming 138-94 victory against the Los Angeles Lakers with 30 points, eleven rebounds and eleven assists.
Before the gaze of Jalen Hurts, ‘quarterback’ of the Philadelphia Eagles and protagonist on Sunday of a monumental performance in the victory against the Buffalo Bills in the NFL, the 76ers walked against the Lakers and were reunited with the victory at home after three consecutive defeats.
The 76ers increased their record to 12-5 and caught up with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Orlando Magic for second place in the East, behind the Boston Celtics. The Lakers snapped their three-game winning streak on the road and are 10-8.
Embiid had fallen one assist short of a triple double recently against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Brooklyn Nets, but he sealed it this Monday in three quarters.
He had the support of Tyrese Maxey (31 points and eight assists) and Marcus Morris (16 points off the bench). The 76ers scored 22 three-pointers and the Lakers only seven.
LeBron James was the Angelenos’ top scorer with 18 points in 29 minutes (8 of 12 shooting), and Anthony Davis contributed a double-double of 17 points and eleven rebounds, but only scored seven points in the last three quarters. The Lakers lacked continuity and lost up to 17 balls to the 76ers’ five.
The 76ers’ three-pointer festival began with five in a first quarter in which Nick Nurse’s team took a thirteen-point lead (32-19) at the pace of Embiid, with twelve points, and Maxey, with ten.
The Lakers connected on their first four field goals, but they completely jammed afterwards and their modest three of thirteen favored a resounding 20-2 run for the 76ers.
The Angelenos did not go beyond one of seven in triples, with LeBron as the only scorer from the arc, and it was Anthony Davis, with ten points to sustain them.
That difference worsened in the second period, in which Maxey, Beverly, Morris, Embiid and Nicolas Batum raised the triple count to 13 of 26 (50%), compared to three of ten for the Lakers who sank to 25 points disadvantage (64-39) before a good closing of the period, with a run of 14-4, allowed them to cut to fifteen (68-53).
It was the credit of an irrepressible LeBron, with eleven points and four of four shooting, if the Lakers did not drop out of the game before the break.
The match resumed several minutes late after the break due to a new problem with the basket timers. It is the second time in a row that the Wells Fargo Center has had this setback and the two teams had to compete in the second half with timers placed in the corners of the field.
LeBron, with two excellent innings, led the Lakers to a strong start, but the 76ers did not give the Angelenos any real chances of a comeback. Embiid was in charge of closing the door with the basket from the middle distance that raised the score to 89-69.
Embiid closed the period by completing his triple double. He already had 30 points, eleven rebounds and eleven assists at halftime and the 76ers led 98-80, stopping an 8-1 run by the Lakers led by Taurean Prince (11 points in the third period).
The fourth period was a formality for the 76ers, who increased their lead to a resounding 127-92 with a 29-12 lead. The Lakers took their starters off the field and are already focusing on the upcoming visits to the Detroit Pistons and the Thunder. Mo Bamba, with a powerful dunk, and the Sixers substitutes took advantage of it to make it 138-94.