The NBA trade deadline has come and gone, which means the focus for the Los Angeles Lakers can get back to basketball.
The Lakers are coming off a successful 5-3 road trip and returned home to host the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night. The first game back in L.A. after a long road trip can always be a tricky one, but the Lakers took care of business in this one with a 119-115 comeback victory.
It was a slow start for the Lakers as they made just one of their first six shots and were committing some silly turnovers, allowing the 76ers to jump out to a 20-10 lead and force a timeout by JJ Redick.
L.A. had a nice response out of the timeout as Rui Hachimura came off the bench and hit a triple and then Luka Doncic had a layup and dunk to nearly cut the deficit in half. Both teams went cold to end the first quarter, and the Lakers trailed 27-21 going into the second.
After a LeBron James dunk and an Austin Reaves triple, the Lakers continued to cut into their deficit.
Unfortunately, Doncic appeared to injure his hamstring and immediately went back to the Lakers locker room, missing the rest of the half.
Reaves had a nice offensive stretch with Doncic off the floor, but the Lakers continued to have no answer for Joel Embiid and went into the halftime locker room trailing 59-51.
When the Lakers came out for the third quarter, Doncic was not with them as he was eventually ruled out for the rest of the game. It was a rough start to the second half for L.A. as Philadelphia ripped off six straight points to extend the lead to double digits and force a quick timeout.
Again though, the Lakers had a nice response out of the timeout as Reaves and Hachimura had it going offensively. After a strong close to the third quarter, L.A. cut its deficit to just two at 87-85 going into the fourth.
Reaves beat the shot clock with a triple to begin the final quarter and then hit another one, giving his team their first lead of the night.
From there, the Lakers began to gain some separation as Marcus Smart hit back-to-back triples to put them up 10. Reaves then followed suit with the dagger, securing an impressive comeback victory for L.A. The 76ers tried to make a comeback of their own late, but the Lakers hung on for the win.
In just his second game back from injury, Reaves led the way with 35 points, five rebounds and two assists in just 25 minutes of action.
What’s next for the Lakers…
The Lakers will finish out the first half of the regular season with four more games at home, starting with the Golden State Warriors on Saturday evening.
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