LeBron James and Austin Reaves know very well what “killed” the Los Angeles Lakers in their embarrassing loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night: 3-point shooting.
The Sixers blew out the Lakers 138-94 for the fourth-worst loss in franchise history. Joel Embiid led the way for the Sixers with an insane triple-double of 30 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists, while Tyrese Maxey had a big night as well with 31 points, three boards and eight dimes.
Philadelphia took advantage of LA’s ugly defense and had a field day shooting the ball from deep. The Sixers connected 22 of 46 attempts from beyond the arc. In comparison, the Lakers made only seven triples on 28 tries. Maxey was 5-of-8 from the 3-point line, while Patrick Beverley went 4-of-8 for Philly.
While talking to reporters after their horrible loss, James pointed to the Sixers’ 3-point shooting as the biggest difference-maker in the contest. LeBron admitted that it’s what “killed” them.
“We got killed on the 3-point line today. We went with our coverages, they made shots. Give them credit,” James shared, via Spectrum SportsNet.
Reaves, for his part, agreed with James’ sentiment, saying (Via Lakers Nation): “They made a lot of 3s, we didn’t. They beat the s**t out of us. I don’t know.”
While some might think the two are oversimplifying it, LeBron James and Austin Reaves are not wrong at all. The Sixers basically scored 66 points off triples compared to the Lakers’ 21. That’s a 45-point difference, and the game would have definitely been closer had Philly not been as efficient as they were from long-range.
At the end of the day, though, Darvin Ham’s men can only learn from it. If they want to be title contenders once again, they cannot allow powerhouse teams like the Sixers to have their way on offense. The Lakers have some tough tests waiting for them as they face the Detroit Pistons, Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets in the remainder of the week. Both OKC and Houston have winning records, and the two teams will be ready to pounce if LA plays the same defense as they did on Monday night.
