Westbrook does himself no justice

The passage of the Sixers, one of the leading teams in the Eastern Conference, at the Crypto Arena in Los Angeles left a bittersweet taste on the palate of the Lakers. The locals were about to take the game on an important night, because LeBron James forced to play and the team has another game this Monday in which it is possible that he will no longer be there, but they stayed on point without reaching more. A tight finish decided the match to end it with a score of 112-113.

The penalty for the Angelenos was not only seeing LeBron -two rebounds from the triple-double, he had 35 points and 10 assists, and with a +19 ratio on the court- so well and without a prize, also Westbrook. The point guard was the total protagonist of the finale when he had achieved a performance of those reminiscent of bygone times. With the locals winning by one point, it was entered in the last minute and a half and there came a triple from the right corner of Georges Niang after service Joel Embiidwhich was followed by a tracing on the other basket by Troy Brown after another basket by Joel had been inserted. Embiid decided to raise the ball with ease in what would be his team’s last attack, with an advantage of one in the electronic, and sought to pair up with a small one on the perimeter to try to play with his back, albeit far away, and have the advantage with her body. The Cameroonian-born center ran into Westbrook, who stands out for his physique for the position he occupies, and launched a leaning shot well defended by Russ, who had the closing game to win. The Lakers’ ‘0’ strategy in those 16 seconds was to look for Embiid on the outside, like a cat and mouse, to get away from him for speed, but he did not have Niang’s help under the board and to bounce the ball at the foot while executing that attempt. Terrible ending to a good night for Westbrook (20+14+11), which did not do justice.

The positioning of the lakers, counting on the particularities of a squad that we will see if it improves in this winter market, it continues to be unfavorable if we take into account the loss of Davis. But it is that Walker and Reaves were not present for this match, who were out during the last games, nor was Beverley, a defensive expert who never hurts in high-profile games like this one. And the defeat fell, the third in a row to get three from tenth place with a balance of 19-24.

A successful start by both sides gave way to the first substitutions, at which time Maxey (16) pulled the car to put his team a tad ahead. The Lakers linked baskets, above all, based on penetrations through the central zone. And the Sixers pushed and they followed in the wake. A basket from Gabriel on the horn of the first quarter kept leaving one behind. The scoring volume was medium-high and the game needed, if any side requested it, someone to step on the brake. In the experience, LeBron James wins, who during the first round had surpassed the barrier of 38,000 points in the NBA -and how close he is already to the total record of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar- and in the second he dedicated himself to ordering the ideas of his combined. He looked strong and fresh, both when it came to distributing the game and looking for the area to score, and he was so good that on the brink of halftime he left two plays that raised the flag. Philly, to his own, was still there even though he went to rest below. During the third quarter, the visitors got on a roller coaster that started at the top thanks to Harris (15), who also had a touch on the match, continued down after a good partial by the Lakers with the highlights from a 3 + 1 of the concentrated Westbrook, and returned to the top in the last strip after three triples from Milton, Niang and Embiid. The difference was minimal and the magic seemed to be on the Lakers’ side, not only because of Russ’s strong plays finished with a good touch but also because of the double twist with which LeBron started the last period. In the final minutes Schröder emerged on the local side and, on the visiting side, Harden (24+7+13) brilliantly freed the rival defense both in passes and in actions finished by him, doing damage with a silencer and leaving a mark . In the end the 76ers reigned, making their position in the global NBA table good, putting the zipper on Russell Westbrook.