One Lakers’ superstar passed another on the all-time scoring list last night. LeBron James jumped over Kobe Bryant on the No.3 and now has 33,655 points, two more than Black Mamba.
When he scored a two-pointer with 4:37 inside the third period, the entire Wells Fargo Center stood up and made ovations to the four-time MVP. Although he surpassed one of their own local guys (Philadelphia is Kobe’s hometown), nobody held any grudge towards him.
“I remember one thing he said was that if you want to try and be great at it, and want to be one of the greats, you’ve got to put the work in,” James revealed what he remembers from his talks with Bryant.
James did jump over Kobe, but his team lost against the fired-up 76ers who played without two of their starters, Josh Richardson, and more importantly, Joel Embiid. The final result was 108-91, with Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris harassing the guests from the City of Angels.
Harris scored 29 points, adding 8 boards, while Simmons posted one point fewer, 10 rebounds, and 8 boards. The former rookie of the year added four steals, displaying excellent defensive performance.
“He was so so good,” Brett Brown, the 76ers head coach, stated about Simmons. “And good in multiple positions. And then defensively, when you look at the disturbance Matisse and Ben caused.”
What was also very impressive from the Australian, was his shooting percentage. He would hit 12 of his 15 shots, outplaying each player that guarded him.
The 76ers made their first run during the opening period, when they created a 30-18 lead. They would never trail after that moment. Throughout the second, everything stayed the same, but after the halftime, Philly created an even bigger distance. A 15-2 burst would push the hosts to a 22-point advantage, and it seemed that the game was pretty much over.
It turned out that the visitors tried to make one more run, cutting the deficit to 93-88, but that was all from them. Over the next few minutes, Simmons and the boys poured 11 consecutive points, and the Philly posted its 30th victory of the campaign.
“They punched us in the first quarter,” said Frank Vogel. “They are a great home team, Saturday night game, we knew it was going to be an electric crowd.”
The Lakers (36-10) had just two players with 10 or more points. Anthony Davis scored 31, adding 7 rebounds. LeBron had 29, 8 assists, and 7 boards. King James was pretty bad from downtown, 1-for-6, so was the entire LAL team who hit 6 threes in 31 tries.
It seems that playing on the road in recent times caught up with Vogel’s crew. This was the fifth consecutive game away from LA, and fortunately for the purple and gold the last one. They are no coming back to the Staples to face the local rivals LA Clippers.
On the other side, 76ers (30-17) have another opponent from California coming to Wells Fargo Center, the Golden State Warriors. After that event, they head on their own, four-game tour through the Eastern Conference.
