On Sunday evening at Staples Center, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers played out an exciting back-and forth contest where the visiting Sixers edged out the Lakers, 118-116, behind 29 points, seven rebounds and five assists from Dario Saric.
To start the night, the Lakers shook up their starting lineup, but Jordan Clarkson retained his role as the team's sixth man. The 24-year-old, who is considered a key member of the Lakers' young core, put together his best performance of the season. Clarkson scored 12 points and passed off five assists in the first half en route to 30 points, eight assists and six rebounds.
For Clarkson, the 30 points tied his career-high, while the eight assists set a new season high. Clarkson's six rebounds also came within one rebound of leveling his season high.
"Tonight, he put it all together obviously," Walton said regarding Clarkson's play following the game. "He was really good."
While Clarkson stayed in his bench role, 19-year-old rookie center Ivica Zubac moved into the starting lineup in a move designed to further develop the promising Croatian big man. Within five minutes, Zubac had already tied his career-high with four block shots. By the time halftime rolled around, Zubac had made all four his field goal attempts and pulled down four rebounds in addition to his four blocks.
The seven-footer looked ready for the spotlight and eventually finished with 10 points, six rebounds and four blocks in 20 minutes.
Walton referenced the team's late night flight to Denver and the second night of a back-to-back posing a challenge for Zubac on Monday, with Nuggers' standout Nikola Jokic waiting in the Mile High City.
"That's good for (Zubac) to feel that, and then to have to get on a plane, get five hours of sleep tonight, and then have to wake up and guard Jokic tomorrow, so I think that's another great learning experience for him, as far as what it's like to play a back-to-back against a starting center," Walton said after the game.
In addition to the shakeup to the lineup with Zubac, Walton also took Nick Young out of the starting lineup and started David Nwaba. Nwaba is a defensive-minded guard that the Lakers signed to a second 10-day contract on Saturday.
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Nwaba, who is an LA local and attended University High School and Santa Monica College, is experiencing a meteoric rise from being an NBA Development League player to starting for the Lakers in less than two weeks. Nwaba came up with a couple high energy plays down the stretch, including a big block and a rim rocking dunk that woke up Staples Center late in the fourth quarter.
With Young seemingly pushed entirely out of the rotation, new addition Tyler Ennis earned backup minutes at one of the guard spots, as the team clearly shifted further into evaluating its young talent. Ennis finished with eight points and two assists but struggled with foul trouble in his limited time on the court.
On the topic of youth, the Lakers started possibly the youngest starting lineup in the team's history, with 24-year-old Nwaba acting as the elder statesman. Zubac and fellow rookie Brandon Ingram are only 19, while D'Angelo Russell is 21 and Julius Randle is 22.
In terms of game flow, the 76ers came out and took an early lead before LA's second unit fought back. The Lakers and 76ers were tied at the break, but Philadelphia put together a strong start to the third quarter and opened up a 12-point lead. LA battled back to enter the fourth quarter trailing by eight points.
Led by the bench energy of Clarkson and Corey Brewer, the Lakers clawed back from down 11 points at the 10:42 mark in the fourth quarter to being level at the 5:36 mark.
Walton eventually went back to his starters, while opting to keep Larry Nance Jr. on the court in place of Zubac and coming back with Clarkson in place of Nwaba. The Lakers have a tendency to play with smaller lineups to close out games, so Nance and Randle playing as the two biggest players on the court was not a new look or a knock on Zubac's performance.
In a back and forth contest, the Lakers and Sixers took turns tasting the lead over the final three minutes. With 1:00 on the game clock, LA led by one point, but Philadelphia 76ers guard T.J. McConnell hit a short jump shot to put the visitors up 113-112.
Then, the Lakers missed their first attempt to take the lead but retained possession. Following a timeout, Russell seemingly forgot that he had only five seconds on the shot clock, and the yelps from the crowd alerted the 21-year-old to launch a desperation three-pointer to beat the buzzer.
The ball barely grazed the rim on its way out of bounds, as the Lakers managed to get two shots on the possession but came up with two blanks. Following a review to see if the ball struck the rim, the Sixers got possession of the basketball with 24.4 seconds remaining in the game.
Russell's brief mental lapse proved to be vital, though the point guard previously had a different mental lapse that was far more embarrassing during the first half.
D'Angelo Russell gonna be on #Shaqtin Thursday, book it pic.twitter.com/CsTD3Sijpy — CJ Fogler (@cjzero) March 13, 2017
As the game wound down, LA fouled Philadelphia and sent the visitors to the free throw line despite having Gerald Henderson seemingly tripled teamed at center court. Henderson converted both free throws to put Philadelphia up by three points, 115-112, with 19.7 seconds remaining.
"They just executed better down the stretch," Randle, who took the ill advised foul on Henderson, said after the game.
The Lakers opeted to go for a quick two, and Clarkson got fouled on his way to the hoop. The Lakers' guard made his first foul shot but missed the second, meaning the Lakers now trailed by two points. That missed foul shot meant that Philadelphia could take a four-point lead with two converted foul shots and effectively put the game to bed.
Two free throws later, LA seemed headed for yet another loss. However, the Lakers again kept hope alive when Nance hit a corner three-pointer to cut the game to a one-point difference with 5.0 seconds remaining. One second later, Saric got fouled and went to the foul line. The 22-year-old made his first free throw and missed his second.
Randle grabbed the rebound with 4.0 seconds remaining and the Lakers trailing by two, but LA was out of timeouts. The forward took off up court, but he had to launch a desperation heave from half court as time expired.
The shot did not even rattle the rim, and the Lakers did not win. LA is now 20-46 on the season.
"I think we just get better and better each and every game," Ingram said. "I think we just move on to the next game, look at the film and see what we can do better."
