76ers Avoid Collapse in Overtime Thriller vs. Lakers

For the second-straight game the 76ers needed overtime to settle a matchup. This time, the results were different against the Lakers.

Before going on a three-day break beginning on Tuesday, the Philadelphia 76ers closed out a three-game road stand against the Houston Rockets.

Despite being heavy favorites going into that matchup, the Sixers struggled with taking care of the ball and working the glass against a young Rockets team. While Philadelphia nearly completed a second-half comeback to take down the Rockets, the two teams needed overtime to settle the score.

One overtime period wasn’t enough in Houston on Monday. In a double-overtime matchup, the Sixers dropped their third-straight game with an upset loss against the Rockets. With that defeat, the Sixers fell to 12-12 on the year, going into a multi-day break to re-group and get refreshed.

A few days later, the Sixers returned to South Philly to host the Los Angeles Lakers. With a clear chip on their shoulder, Joel Embiid and the Sixers got off to a red-hot start over LeBron James and the Lakers.

By accounting for 20 of the Sixers’ 31 first-quarter points, Embiid helped Philly outscore the Lakers by 11 points. In the second quarter, the Lakers’ offense came alive. With a 39-point rally, the Sixers were outscored by nine points before going into halftime.

With a small lead going into the second half, the Sixers wanted to ensure they kept their foot on the gas. In the third quarter, Sixers guard De’Anthony Melton came alive. Flashing his two-way skillset, Melton collected 16 points while snatching three steals in the third quarter.

After developing a 14-point lead, the Sixers hoped to keep building on their momentum to put the Lakers away with ease. At first, it seemed the Sixers were cruising toward a blowout victory as they led by 18 points in the fourth quarter. 

Unfortunately, a 37-point showing by the Lakers and some costly mistakes from the Sixers allowed Los Angeles an opportunity to climb back to potentially snag an upset comeback victory.

With ten fourth-quarter turnovers and two critical fouls down the stretch, the Lakers nearly sent the Sixers back to their locker room with a loss for the fourth-straight game. As Lakers big man Anthony Davis stood at the free throw line for two shots, his first make tied the game at 120 with three seconds left to go. 

“I felt like a football coach when the guy had a field goal, you know?” said Sixers coach Doc Rivers. “Hope he misses one of the field goals. So, he did, and we got it to overtime, which is an amazing statement. Like, really, that should never happen.”

James Harden collected the rebound off of Davis’ miss. Then, the Sixers went into overtime with the Lakers in hopes of finding different results than Monday’s matchup.

“It’s a tie game, let’s go win the game,” Rivers said regarding the Sixers’ overtime mentality. “Like, once that happens, we’ll fix it in film the next day and then in practice, but in the moment of the game, you get your guys focused on forward and not back. Trust me, they were thinking back in that timeout. So, that’s all we talked about. We’re gonna win the game, we’re gonna score on the first play. We showed them where they were trapping from, and we execute.”

The Sixers did exactly what they needed to do in the final five minutes of the matchup. Holding the Lakers to 1-10 from the field and forcing two turnovers, the Sixers managed to outscore Los Angeles 13-2 in the free period. While there are many negative takeaways from the matchup, the Sixers are happy to begin their homestand with a 133-122 win.

“We’ll take the win,” Rivers said. “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 we’re very proud of that. Just the mistakes we made down the stretch, very similar to the Houston game in some ways. We have to fix that.”

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.