The Los Angeles Lakers will try to run their road-winning streak to four games when they visit the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night.
The Lakers are coming off a 121-115 road win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.
Seven of the eight Lakers who played against Cleveland scored in double figures, led again by power forward Anthony Davis, who finished with 32 points and 13 rebounds for his fifth straight double-double and 13th in 16 games overall.
“We expect a lot from AD,” Lakers star LeBron James said after the win. “We want him to be aggressive offensively, at the same time anchor our defense. (It) was an AD game.”
Davis said the key to being productive on the offensive end is sharing the basketball with his teammates until they can get the best shot possible.
“If you don’t have a shot, move it on to the next guy and they either have a shot or move it on to the next guy,” Davis said. “Just playing stress-free and letting the ball dictate the type of shot that we get instead of guys being selfish or trying to find their own look.”
Los Angeles hopes for a repeat performance from its bench as well.
Austin Reaves had 15 points and 10 assists against the Cavaliers and Christian Wood (13) and Jaxson Hayes (10) also scored in double figures.
“Any time you can get that assist number up, it means you’re playing the game the right way,” Reaves said.
Max Christie continues to fill in well for injured starter Cam Reddish. Christie scored 12 points in his second start of the season and guarded Cleveland All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell, who missed nine of 10 shots in the second half after scoring 13 points in the first quarter.
“We gave him a shout-out after the game,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said of Christie. “The more minutes he gets, the more comfortable he gets.”
The 76ers are coming off a 127-123 road win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday, preventing their first three-game skid of the season.
Philadelphia center Joel Embiid, who figures to match up against Davis on Monday, just missed a triple-double after finishing with 35 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists.
Embiid scored more than half his points at the free-throw line, going 19 for 21, as the 76ers snapped Oklahoma City’s six-game winning streak.
Chet Holmgren, a 7-1 rookie power forward for Oklahoma City, said it’s nearly impossible to guard Embiid one-on-one.
“Great player and when you have a skill set, but you also have a physical ability in terms of his size and strength that complement each other, it’s a real tough guard,” Holmgren said.
“It comes down to team defenses and trying to really scheme and make things challenging, not just for him, but for other dudes on the floor as well.”
The 76ers have plenty of secondary options. Tyrese Maxey scored 28 points against Oklahoma City to boost his season average to 26.4.
Fellow starters Tobias Harris (16), De’Anthony Melton (14) and Nicolas Batum (14) also scored in double figures against the Thunder.
“You start kind of forming your identity and learning who we are,” Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse said. “Then you start fixing some of the things you want to improve.”
–Field Level Media
