After a long eight-game road trip, the Los Angeles Lakers finally returned home to Crypto.com Arena and hosted the
Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night. The Lakers and 76ers entered the matchup with similar records, setting up an entertaining matchup between two playoff hopefuls.
The first home game after a road trip is often a trap game and it looked that way in the first half as Los Angeles’ offense struggled to find any consistency. Meanwhile, the Lakers had no answer for Joel Embiid who feasted on switches and jumpers to give the 76ers the lead.
To make matters worse, Luka Doncic was forced out of the game near the end of the second quarter due to lower leg soreness. Doncic didn’t quite look like himself when he was on the floor, but seeing him walk back to the locker room was concerning.
Without Doncic, Los Angeles needed a group effort to stage a comeback and the team responded with one of its best overall halves of the 2025-26 season. Although the game came down to the final minute, the Lakers held on for a thrilling 119-115 win.
Austin Reaves made his return from a calf injury on Tuesday against the Brooklyn Nets, and came off the bench again against Philadelphia. The Lakers needed one of their stars to step up in Doncic’s absence and Reaves answered the call as he was highly efficient scoring from the field.
The 76ers struggled to contain Reaves from the perimeter, but the star guard also torched them with his jumper. Reaves dominated the fourth quarter, knocking down incredibly difficult 3-pointers to give the Lakers their first lead of the night.
Reaves looked 100 percent healthy in the win, scoring a team-high 35 points to go along with five rebounds and two assists in just 25 minutes.
Maxi Kleber earned a spot in the rotation with Jaxson Hayes serving a one-game suspension and the veteran big man made good on his minutes. Kleber didn’t do much offensively aside from a dunk in transition, but his contributions came outside of the box score as he scrapped to keep possessions alive. He was also solid defensively, actively rotating and challenging shots at the rim.
Kleber had a modest stat line of four points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals but his impact was felt on both ends of the floor.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers will continue their home stand on Saturday against the Golden State Warriors. They’ll then play the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday.
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