Riding their longest winning streak since before Thanksgiving, the Los Angeles Lakers will take a four-game run of success into a road matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday.
The Lakers began the East Coast portion of a six-game road trip Monday with a 112-107 victory over the Charlotte Hornets. Los Angeles opened a 23-point lead less than eight minutes into the game before surviving a scare.
The extended run of road games comes as the Grammy Awards takes its annual residency inside the Lakers’ home arena.
Anthony Davis had 21 points and 11 rebounds in the first quarter for Los Angeles on Monday and finished with season highs of 42 points and 23 boards while playing 37 minutes on the first night of a back-to-back. He pulled down eight offensive rebounds.
It was his fifth career 40-20 game, tied for the ninth most in NBA history and the most among active players.
“He put in two days of work tonight,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “… He just carried us all night. We moved him around, he played with force. I thought his hands and touch and just the pursuit of the basketball on the offensive glass was just awesome.”
LeBron James added 22 points, eight assists and seven boards in 36 minutes for the Lakers, who are 6-1 since Jan. 15 and eight games over .500 for the first time this season. Los Angeles was without Rui Hachimura (calf) and Gabe Vincent (knee).
In his second game of the season, after recovering from injuries to both feet, Jarred Vanderbilt had four points, two rebounds and two steals in 13 minutes off the Los Angeles bench. Vanderbilt also makes big contributions on the defensive end.
“Our offense is not going to be there every night, but we can control our defense every single night,” Davis said.
The only longer winning streak for the Lakers this season was a six-game run from Nov. 8-19 that started with a 116-106 home victory over the 76ers. James produced 21 points, 12 rebounds and 13 assists in that contest.
The 76ers have won consecutive games for the first time in the calendar year, pulling off a 132-129 victory over the Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday before earning a 109-97 road victory against the Chicago Bulls on Saturday.
Tyrese Maxey logged 31 points and nine assists for Philadelphia at Chicago, while Kelly Oubre Jr. compiled 22 points and 12 rebounds.
Before their consecutive victories, the 76ers were 2-10 going back to Jan. 1. The skid largely coincided with the absence of Joel Embiid (knee), who has missed the past 11 games and already has been ruled out for Tuesday.
Not making things any better on the injury front is a jammed left pinky for Paul George, who departed the Saturday game and will not play on Tuesday. Kyle Lowry (hip) returned against the Bulls after missing the previous 10 games, and he had two points and two assists in 15 minutes.
Injured forwards Caleb Martin (hip) and KJ Martin (foot) returned to practice this week, but neither will play against the Lakers.
“You guys hear this from me all the time, but I’ll say it again: See who’s there, figure out the matchups, figure out the game plan, figure out the rotations and go from there,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse said. “And we’ll play as hard as we can and as well as we can.”
–Field Level Media
