Joel Embiid’s 35 points, Georges Niang’s block lead Sixers to 113-112 victory over Lakers

LOS ANGELES – It was ugly, that’s for sure. But it was a win for the 76ers.

They defeated the undermanned Los Angeles Lakers, 113-112, Sunday night at the Crypto.com Arena, and now are tied with the Milwaukee Bucks for third place in the Eastern Conference.

“That was an escape,” coach Doc Rivers said. “Last night, I felt like we missed layups and should have won [Saturday’s 118-117 win at Utah]. Tonight, we didn’t have a lot of energy, as you could see, defensively.”

The Sixers and Bucks have identical 27-16 records and are both a half-game behind the second-place Brooklyn Nets.

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For the second consecutive night, Joel Embiid scored what turned out to be the winning basket and helped make the game-saving stop in a one-point victory.

The center’s three-pointer gave the Sixers a 113-109 cushion with 45.7 seconds left. Troy Brown responded with a three-pointer on the ensuing possession to pull the Lakers within one point. Embiid missed a jumper on the next trip down the court, leaving the Lakers with a chance to win. However, he and Georges Niang built a wall that prevented Russell Westbrook from scoring. Niang blocked Westbrook’s shot with 3.1 seconds left before Embiid grabbed the rebound.

“The clock was running down,” Niang said. “So I wanted to make sure to get over there [in the paint] and be the low man to help, and I got my hand on the ball.”

On Saturday, Embiid buried a 13-foot fadeaway jumper with 5.7 seconds left. Then he and P.J. Tucker denied Jordan Clarkson a shot attempt in the final second in the one-point win over the Jazz.

The Sixers overcame a dominant performance by LeBron James on Sunday. The three-time MVP scored 35 points while becoming the second player in NBA history to surpass 38,000 career points.

The Lakers (19-24) shot 55.2% from the field and scored 70 points in the paint.

But that Sixers combated that with solid performances from their perennial All-NBA tandem of Embiid and James Harden.

Embiid finished with 35 points and 11 rebounds, scoring 30 or more points for the fifth straight game.

James Harden had 24 points, 13 assists and seven rebounds after being listed as questionable ahead of the game with a painful left heel.

Tobias Harris returned after missing the Utah game with a left knee bone bruise. The power forward finished with 15 points on 7-for-13 shooting.

This marked the first time the Sixers didn’t go with their season-opening starting lineup when all five players were healthy and off minutes restriction.

Instead, Rivers went with a lineup of Harris, Tucker, Embiid, Harden, and De’Anthony Melton. Melton got the start in place of Tyrese Maxey.

The starting backcourt of Maxey and Harden had been a defensive liability. This move came after Oklahoma City Thunder dominated the duo, leaving one to wonder how long would Rivers stay with the pairing.

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That’s because the Sixers benefited defensively when at least one of the guards was sidelined. Melton shined in the starting lineup as a three-and-D defender. As a result, the Sixers defense rose to one of the best in the league with Melton or Matisse Thybulle in the lineup.

Rivers said Maxey’s coming off the bench was his suggestion.

“Sometimes you have to be the bigger person,” Maxey said. “I feel like it was kind of trending that way. But I’m a professional at the end of the day. I feel like I’m a starter in this league. And I feel like our team is so good that we can have multiple people starting.

“So at the end of the day, I think I played like 33 minutes. So it is what it is.”

Maxey had 16 points and five rebounds in 32 minutes, 38 seconds.

Rivers had said the Sixers’ defensive woes against the Thunder weren’t a result of the lineup. However, Maxey didn’t enter Sunday’s game until there were 5 minutes left in the first quarter.

“We told our team there’s three lineups that we’ll be using from this point on.,” Rivers said. “We were going to do it in the Utah game. But Tobias was out. They know the lineups. I’m not going to share them.

“But there’s three different lineups; we will use them on different nights.”

Rivers said the lineups will be based on matchups.

James, in his 20th season, now has 38,024 career points. He trails only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had 38,387 points.

James entered the game with 37,989. He scored eight of the Lakers’ first 10 points of the game. His layup with 6:55 left in the quarter gave him 10 points. And his jumper at the 5:43 mark of the quarter gave him 38,001.

Twenty-two of Embiid’s points came on 7-for-12 shooting in the first half. This game marked the 18th time this season that he’s scored at least 20 points in a half.

The Sixers couldn’t complain about Harris dealing with the bone bruise or Harden having a painful heel. Los Angeles would have been elated to have just two key players dealing with injuries or ailments.

The Lakers had four rotation players sidelined.

Patrick Beverley missed the game with a non-COVID illness. Guards Austin Reaves and Lonnie Walker remained sidelined with strained left hamstring and left knee tendinitis, respectively. And Anthony Davis missed his 15th game with a stress injury in his right foot. Davis told reporters a bone spur fractured off the navicular bone in his right foot.

The Sixers will remain in the City of Angels. After having Monday off for the holiday observance in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., they’ll face the Clippers on Tuesday at the Crypto.com Arena. Then they’ll head to Portland for Thursday’s game against the Trail Blazers at the Moda Center. Then the Sixers will complete their five-game West Coast trip on Saturday at the Sacramento Kings.