While much of the focus following the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss to the Philadelphia 76ers last night was on Lonzo Ball struggling once again from the field, Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma gave fans plenty to be excited about.
Ingram finished with 26 points and 11 rebounds, both career-highs, while Kuzma also poured in a career-high with 24 points. The two talented forwards, along with Jordan Clarkson, kept the Lakers in the game down the stretch.
Afterwards, Sixers coach Brett Brown was very impressed with both of the Lakers forwards via Lakers Nation reporter Serena Winters:
Brett Brown spoke very highly of Kuzma & Ingram tonight: "I think of those two young guys & then, the Lakers were sort of on a similar path that we were on, trying to identify keepers, trying to identify franchise-type players. Those two guys I thought tonight were excellent."
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) November 16, 2017
This was undoubtedly a great showing for both players as they each looked like cornerstones for the future of the Lakers franchise. Ingram was aggressive all night, attacking the basket at will and finishing through contact even with Joel Embiid trying to impede his progress.
Kuzma displayed his entire arsenal, scoring from inside and out and showing off an impressive array of ways to finish at the rim. Additionally, he almost pulled off the dunk of the year as he just barely missed out on putting Embiid on a poster.
Even though the Lakers came up short, there were still positives to take away from the game and the play of Ingram and Kuzma were at the top of the list. The two look like future cornerstones for this franchise and their play is certainly inspiring. The next step will be for them to keep this up consistently, which would be huge for a Lakers team still struggling offensively.
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