On New Year’s Day, the ball wasn’t dropping for either team. Both the Lakers and Philadelphia missed more than 62 percent of their shots, but Los Angeles held on thanks to a late eruption.
L.A. entered the fourth quarter with just a two-point lead, but the Lakers rolled out on a 15-2 run midway through the period, which was highlighted by D’Angelo Russell’s over-the-head pass in transition to Julius Randle for a highlight slam.
“I was just running and (Russell) saw me with eyes in the back of his his head,” Randle said after his team’s 93-84 victory.
With Kobe Bryant out due to a sore right shoulder, Lou Williams embraced L.A.’s leading offensive role. The reigning Sixth Man of the Year tied his season-high of 24 points — half of which came in the fourth quarter alone — while handing out five assists.
“Shooters shoot,” said Williams, who went 10-of-12 at the foul line. “That’s it. Sometimes you’re can make a lot of shots. (Sometimes) you miss a lot of shots. That’s just the life of a shooter. It’s an up-and-down struggle.”
Jordan Clarkson complemented Williams with 19 points of his own, while Larry Nance Jr. hauled in a career-high 14 rebounds on his 23rd birthday.
But the Lakers (7-27) — who shot just 33-of-87 — won the game on the other end for the floor.
They held the 76ers (3-32) to an opponent season-low in scoring en route to winning back-to-back games for the first time since last February.
“I really liked the fact that we really didn’t shoot the ball well at all; but defensively we hung in there, kept competing,” head coach Byron Scott said. “At halftime, the one thing that I told them is that we have to continue to try to push the pace against that team and don’t allow them to out work us.”
In the opposing locker room, Sixers coach Brett Brown highlighted L.A.’s effort against his starting backcourt of Ish Smith and Isaiah Canaan, who combined to shoot 5-of-30 from the field.
“Coming out of timeouts, they shut down some of our looks,” Brown said. “I feel that they disrupted our backcourt and we give them credit.”
Postgame Report
Notes
The Lakers and Sixers entered the game with the NBA’s worst field goal percentages. … Julius Randle (15 points, nine rebounds) nearly notched a double-double in 24 minutes. … Rookie Anthony Brown made his second career start in place of Bryant. … Former head coach Mike D’Antoni made his return to Staples Center as Philadelphia’s associate coach. … Nick Young tied his career-high with four steals. … A sellout crowd of 18,997 filled the arena.
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