Sixers vs. Lakers takeaways: Lucky win, mistake to leave De’Anthony Melton wide open, mounting turnovers

The 76ers were lucky.

The Los Angeles Lakers got torched by leaving De’Anthony Melton wide open. And the Sixers are starting to turn the ball over at a high rate.

Below is my look at three things that stood out during Friday’s 133-122 overtime victory over the Los Angeles Lakers at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Sixers (13-12) avoided an embarrassing defeat thanks to the Lakers’ inability to come through in the clutch.

With the score tied, 120-120, Anthony Davis missed a foul shot with 3.7 seconds left, sending the game to overtime. Then, in the extra session, the Lakers (10-15) missed their first nine shots en route to shooting 1-for-10.

And don’t let anyone tell you it was because of the Sixers’ defense. Los Angeles missed running finger rolls, wide-open three-pointers, layups, and putbacks. They also turned the ball over twice — once on a shot-clock violation.

But before the Lakers choked, the Sixers blew their 16-point lead with 4 minutes, 5 seconds remaining.

» READ MORE: Sixers mailbag: Tobias Harris’ trade market, Joel Embiid’s supporting cast and more

Falling apart, they committed seven turnovers down the stretch.Three of their turnovers came in the final 27.1 seconds. The last one came when Tobias Harris’ inbounds pass ricocheted off Joel Embiid and Davis recorded a steal.

Davis hit the first foul shot to knot the score before misfiring on the second.

“We gotta figure it out in those moments, especially when teams are presenting that type of pressure,” Harris said. “We just gotta take care of the basketball and make the right play.

“You know it was just a domino effect of turnovers toward the end.

“So, obviously, we don’t like it. But it was a good win for us.”

The Lakers were focused on stopping Embiid, who finished with a game-high 38 points. So that tactic didn’t work. Nor did leaving Melton wide open for most of the game.

The Sixers guard scored a career-high 33 points while making 8 of 12 three-pointers. A terror on defense, he also finished with a career-high seven steals.

But it was mind-boggling how many great looks he got, especially in the third quarter. That’s when he scored 16 points on 6-for-6 shooting, including four threes.

“You know they kept leaving me open,” Melton said, ”so I just kept shooting it.”

Asked if he was surprised the Lakers kept leaving him open, he laughed before saying, “Nah”

“We got so many guys that draw attention that it opens up space for other players,” Melton said. “So tonight was my night, and I just kept finding the open spot.”

» READ MORE: Sixers star Tyrese Maxey makes practice appearance, still ‘a ways away’ from full return

The expectation was the Sixers would be a better ballhandling team once James Harden returned after missing 14 games with a strained tendon in his right foot.

However, the Sixers are averaging 21½ turnovers in his two games back. They had 23 turnovers, leading to 31 points for the Lakers on Friday. This came after the Sixers turned the ball over 20 times in Monday’s double-overtime loss to the Houston Rockets.

» READ MORE: Sixers coach Doc Rivers echoes that Joel Embiid, James Harden pairing will ‘take time’

Embiid had seven turnovers against the Lakers and averaged six in the past two games. Meanwhile, Harden had five Friday and also averaged six in the past two games.