Sixers’ defense clamps down in overtime of chaotic 133-122 victory over Los Angeles Lakers

Joel Embiid waved his index finger, Dikembe Mutombo-style, as Patrick Beverley fired a desperation jumper after the shot-clock buzzer sounded.

That gesture could have signaled jubilation or a blend of frustrated relief. But it also signified how the Sixers finally finished off the Los Angeles Lakers Friday night.

After surrendering 10 points during a frenzied final 29 seconds of regulation, the Sixers defense held the Lakers scoreless for nearly the duration of overtime to secure a 133-122 victory in front of a charged crowd at the Wells Fargo Center.

“I thought we would start this about 15 minutes ago,” coach Doc Rivers said in reference to the timing of his postgame news conference. “We’ll take the win. And one thing I will say, usually when you give up a lead like that, to gather yourself and play well in overtime is rare. So I told our guys I’m very proud of that.

“But just the mistakes that we made down the stretch [of regulation] … we have to fix that.”

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The Lakers did not score in the extra frame until Beverley got free under the basket with 35 seconds to play. James Harden anchored the other end, scoring nine of his 28 points in those five minutes to help his team rapidly rebuild a 12-point cushion, at 132-120.

But there wouldn’t have been an overtime if the Sixers hadn’t collapsed in the final minute of regulation. After De’Anthony Melton — who scored a career-high 33 points on 11-of-16 shooting (8-for-12 on three-pointers) and added seven steals — buried a three that put the Sixers up, 118-110, with 44.3 seconds to play, they were outscored, 10-2, thanks to a barrage of miscues.

The Sixers committed three turnovers — including one when the ball bounced off Embiid’s face with his team clinging to a one-point lead with 5.5 seconds remaining — missed one free throw, and fouled Austin Reaves on a three-point attempt. After Reaves missed his final foul shot and the pass from Tobias Harris ricocheted off Embiid, however, the Lakers’ Anthony Davis made his first free throw but missed the potential game-winning attempt with 3.1 seconds to play, preserving a 120-120 tie.

When asked about what went wrong during those final seconds, Rivers and Harden said “everything.” Embiid said he was “just trying to figure out what the hell was going on, honestly.”

“Obviously, we didn’t want it to happen that way,” added Harris. “But we’ve got to learn from it and figure it out.”

That chaotic finish embodied a game that was sloppy and entertaining. The Sixers (13-12) built an early 13-point lead on Embiid’s brilliance, then lost it when he was off the floor. They took a 10-point advantage into the final period, then failed to hold off the Lakers’ rally in regulation.

Embiid finished with 38 points on 14-of-19 shooting, 12 rebounds and five assists. Melton’s point total surpassed the previous high of 25 he scored against the Denver Nuggets in April 2021.

“They kept leaving me open, so I just kept shooting it, and kept shooting with confidence,” Melton said. “ … We’ve got so many guys that draw attention that it opens up space for other players. Tonight was my night, and my teammates kept finding me and I just kept finding the open spot.”

The victory snapped the Sixers’ three-game skid and began a seven-game homestand, their longest of the season. They will next play the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday night, followed by games against the Sacramento Kings (Tuesday), Golden State Warriors (Dec. 16), Toronto Raptors (Dec. 19), Detroit Pistons (Dec. 21), and Los Angeles Clippers (Dec. 23).

Embiid was masterful to start his 38-point outing, scoring 20 in the opening frame on 8-of-9 shooting.

That was by design, Rivers said. Embiid mixed jumpers, finishes inside, and three-pointers. And he closed the quarter with the power and flair that perhaps only he currently possesses, punching a thunderous dunk on Thomas Bryant before hitting a fadeaway deep ball just before the buzzer.

He also helped get Davis off the floor, drawing two of the Lakers star’s three fouls in the game’s first five minutes.

“I just wanted to come out and really send a message to [my teammates],” Embiid said, “and show them that, well, here is me playing hard and obviously scoring the ball. Everybody also has to follow, and they did, so just have to do it every night.”

Unsurprisingly, the Sixers’ double-digit lead rapidly evaporated when Embiid was off the floor to begin the second quarter. When Embiid returned, he almost immediately hit a go-ahead three-pointer and followed a Shake Milton miss to help the Sixers take a two-point lead into the break.

Embiid later tried to posterize Davis with the Sixers up, 106-95, midway through the fourth, but was called for an offensive foul and missed the dunk off the front of the rim.

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Embiid said it felt like Harden “got better and better every minute” of his second game back from a foot injury.

The numbers indicated as much. Harden missed four of his first five shots, including a clean look at the rim. But he went 6-of-11 from the floor in the second half and overtime, and 5-of-5 from the free-throw line in the extra five minutes. He added 12 assists and four rebounds.

His night included a vintage made three-pointer through contact in the first half, and another trey to give the Sixers their largest lead of the game, at 102-84. His old-fashioned three-point play with 3:30 to play in overtime put the Sixers up, 125-120, before three free throws extended that advantage to 132-120.

Harden has also played a combined 85 minutes in these first two games, half-joking that “I guess I’m all right.”

“We’ve got to find a way to just get better throughout the course of the game, so I’m not having to play these loads of minutes,” he said.

With Georges Niang and Danuel House Jr. sidelined with foot injuries, Rivers initially deployed an eight-man rotation until Matisse Thybulle (nine points on 4-of-7 shooting) entered for the second quarter’s final two minutes.

That decision initially worked out excellently. Thybulle scored six points — a driving dunk, an alley-oop finish from Harden, and another slam — to ensure the Sixers would have the lead heading to the locker room. Thybulle was then rewarded as the Sixers’ first sub after the break and hit a corner three-pointer that gave the Sixers a 93-79 lead late in the period.

Before that second-quarter burst from Thybulle, Milton (six points, four rebounds, three assists in 24 minutes) was the first Sixer off the bench, followed by Furkan Korkmaz (two points, three rebounds in nine minutes), and Paul Reed (zero points, three fouls in four minutes). Montrezl Harrell, not Reed, subbed in for Embiid at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

The Lakers had a 40-17 advantage in bench points, led by Reaves’ 25 points and Russell Westbrook’s triple-double with 12 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists.