The Sixers show some life but they can’t shoot, and other takeaways from a tough loss to the Lakers

Tobias Harris found his rhythm.

Kelly Oubre Jr. is thriving in a larger role. Tyrese Maxey has bounced back. But as a team, the 76ers can’t overcome their atrocious shooting.

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Those four things stood out in the Sixers’ 101-94 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers Friday night at the Crypto.com Arena.

“As long as we play our guts out, I can live with it,” coach Nick Nurse told reporters. “I’m having a hard time right now living with it, because I felt like we really did play so hard and executed so well on defense tonight.

“And I thought we executed on offense, too. We just couldn’t get it in the basket.”

Harris missed the previous three days with a sprained right ankle. It turns out the time away has benefited him.

Harris finished with 16 points, a season-high 13 rebounds, and four assists. The power forward was aggressive from the start. However, he struggled from the field in the first quarter, scoring four points, connecting on just 2-of-8 shots. But in the second quarter, Harris made 4-of-5 shots, pouring in eight points during the frame. He finished the game shooting 6-for-18. But his aggressiveness and solid all-around play made up for that.

Oubre is making it hard for the Sixers to take him out of the starting lineup. On Friday, the small forward had 19 points, six rebounds, and three steals, shining on both ends of the floor.

This comes after Oubre averaged 20.4 points on 41.6% shooting along with 6.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists over his last 20 games. Friday marked his 41st start in 57 games played this season.

Oubre has been the Sixers’ second-best player behind Tyrese Maxey, with Joel Embiid sidelined.

Maxey erased memories of Wednesday’s struggles against the Phoenix Suns by finishing with 27 points three assists and three steals.

Eleven of his points came on 4-for-6 shooting in the third quarter. Maxey scored 11 of the Sixers’ 18 points in the fourth quarter. He scored back-to-back layups to pull the Sixers within, 84-83, with 6 minutes, 41 seconds left.

All this comes after the All-Star had a season-low six points on 3-for-13 shooting vs. the Suns.

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The Sixers had a tough time putting the ball in the basket.

They came into the game ranked 20th in three-pointer percentage at 35.7%. They shot worse on Friday, making 8-of-37 three-pointers, good for 21.6%. The Sixers shot 34.4% overall from the field. As of Thursday, the squad was ranked 27th in the NBA in offensive rating since the All-Star break.

And their shooting woes doomed them Friday.

“We just couldn’t score, man,” Nurse said. “And I didn’t think it was poor offense. It was just poor shot making.”