Los Angeles Lakers edge 76ers with less than a second left
PHILADELPHIA – The 76ers and the Lakers are two of the NBA’s most historic franchises, and have combined to win 19 championships.
But this season, they’ve combined to win 38 games.
Still, on Monday night, both teams competed to the end in a thriller inside the Wells Fargo Center. Jordan Clarkson’s layup with 00.7 seconds left gave L.A. a 113-111 win, as the Lakers swept the two-game season series with the Sixers.
“We got beat back door,” said Sixers’ head coach Brett Brown. “I think it was a little bit of a scramble situation, but I did not see the replay.”
Clarkson’s connected on the layup after Wayne Ellington found him under the goal. Clarkson led the Lakers with 26 points and 11 assists. Nerlens Noel led the home team with 19 points and 14 rebounds.
No matter what happens during the final weeks of the season, the Sixers and Lakers will have two of the worst records in the league. After Monday night’s loss, the Sixers dropped to 18-57. The Lakers improved to 20-53.
Due to the Michael Carter-Williams trade, the Sixers have a top-5 protected draft pick from the Lakers. So if the Lakers finish at sixth or lower in the NBA Lottery, the Sixers will get that pick to go along with their own pick, which is expected to be in the top five.
But according to the both head coaches, neither teams is focused on putting themselves in a better position for the lottery.
“We don’t talk about that stuff,” said Lakers’ head coach Byron Scott. “We talk about just trying to get better as a basketball team each and every game. We still have a lot of guys auditioning to be a part of this organization, and just to be in the NBA period. So I don’t think that it’s anything that we really focus on.”
“I sit back and look at going to Cleveland holding someone to 87 points,” Brown said. “You close out a Denver Nugget game by holding them to 9 points on their home court. So at some point, you keep answering the question, but I say look at the effort and the guys defensively.”
“We had that bad second period with 34 points, but short of that we competed.”
Veteran Sixers guard Jason Richardson said the youngest team in the NBA has done that all season.
“You can’t ask for a better year out of these guys,” he said. “With everything that’s been going on with the different trades, guys coming in to fill the roster, and with Tony [Wroten] going down, it’s just been a roller coaster.”
“But one thing that’s been consistent is that we’ve played hard. We’ve been outmatched, not had the right guys playing, and had new guys coming in from the D-League playing right away. But, we’ve always played hard and have gained respect around the league.”
Contact Carron J. Phillips at cphillips@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @carronJphillips.
SIXERS NOTES
•The Sixers have gone to overtime in three of their last 15 games, after not doing so since December of 2013. The Sixers are 1-4 in overtime this season.
•The Sixers shot 10 of 30 from deep, putting them at 10 or more 3-pointers in each of their last five games. It is the longest streak in franchise history. The Sixers have hit 10 or more 3-pointers in 27 games this season.
•Sixers center Nerlens Noel has totaled 224 points, 176 rebounds, 40 steals and 34 blocks before Monday’s game. Dating back to the 1985-1986 season, Houston’s Hakeem Olajuwon was the only person to record more than 200 points, 170 rebounds, 40 steals and 30 blocks in a single month. Olajuwon completed the feat four different times.
•The Lakers lead the all-time series 141-131. The Sixers have dropped six of their past seven home games to the Lakers, after holding a seven-game home win streak against them from February 2001 to March 2007.
•The Sixers and Lakers came into Monday night’s game at the bottom of the NBA standings. Philadelphia had the third worst record at 18-56, and the Lakers were fourth at 19-53. The New York Knick have the worst record in the league at 14-60 and are trailed by the Minnesota Timberwolves (16-57) at second. The Orlando Magic ranked fifth 22-52.
•11 players were officially put on the Monday night’s injury list, with five from the Sixers and six from the Lakers. Joel Embiid (right foot), Jerami Grant (upper respiratory infection), Luc Mbah a Moute (shoulder soreness), Jason Richardson (left knee) and Tony Wroten (right knee) were out for Philly. Kobe Bryant (surgery), Jeremy Lin (upper respiratory infection), Steve Nash (sciatic pain), Ronnie Price (elbow), Julius Randle (right leg) and Nick Young (kneecap) did not play for the Lakers.