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Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James has ‘zero energy, zero excitement’ in All-Star Game

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LOS ANGELES — The NBA’s most high-profile star, LeBron James, ripped the league’s plans to hold an All-Star Game in Atlanta in March while COVID-19 restrictions continue to have a grip on the regular season.

“I have zero energy and zero excitement about an All-Star Game this year,” James said after the Los Angeles Lakers’ 114-93 win over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday. “I don’t even understand why we’re having an All-Star Game.”

James, 36, has played in the league’s showcase event in 16 of his previous 17 seasons in the league and, as a top vote-getter, was named a captain for the past three seasons as the NBA went away from East vs. West and adopted a draft format to spice up the competition.

“Short offseason for myself and my teammates, 71 days,” James said, referring to the time the Lakers had from Game 6 of the NBA Finals in October to opening night against the LA Clippers in December. “And then coming into this season, we were told that we were not having an All-Star Game, so we’d have a nice little break. Five days [in March] from the fifth through the 10th, an opportunity for me to kind of recalibrate for the second half of the season. My teammates as well. Some of the guys in the league.

“And then they throw an All-Star Game on us like this and just breaks that all the way up. So, um, pretty much kind of a slap in the face.”

James also stated the obvious health concerns of staging the festivities in Atlanta, Georgia, where there are fewer state-mandated coronavirus restrictions compared to other NBA locales around the country. The Atlanta Hawks, for instance, are one of only nine teams allowing fans at their home games this season.

“We’re also still dealing with a pandemic,” James said. “We’re still dealing with everything that’s been going on, and we’re going to bring the whole league into one city that’s open? Obviously, the pandemic has absolutely nothing to do with it at this point when it comes to that weekend.

“Obviously, you guys can see that I’m not very happy about it.”

While voicing his displeasure in no uncertain terms, James said he would report for the game if he were to be named an All-Star for the 17th straight season. James led the West with 2,288,676 votes in the league’s first voting returns announced earlier Thursday. Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant led the East with 2,302,705 votes as the only player in the league to appear on more ballots than James.

“It’s the agreement that the players’ association and the league came about. … It’s out of my hands,” James said. “I’ll be there if I’m selected. But I’ll be there physically, but not mentally.”

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Recap: Denver Nuggets collapse in second half, get blown out by Los Angeles Lakers

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The Denver Nuggets got off to a hot start against the Los Angeles Lakers and led by double digits at half time. Unfortunately, a heavy Lakers whistle and a heavy dose of LeBron James combined with a complete meltdown from Denver ended up making the game do a 180. LeBron got a triple double while Nikola Jokic had a quiet night and the Lakers once again proved to be too much for Denver.

Jokic started the game by feasting on Marc Gasol who could do nothing to stop him. That helped Denver open up a five point lead but LeBron was also playing well which kept Denver from getting ahead by more. Jamal Murray also was aggressive to start with a couple buckets early on. The Lakers hung tough behind LeBron though and the game was very tight when the benches started coming in. Dennis Shroder and Anthony Davis carried the load while LeBron got a rest. Denver’s bench got a boost from Monte Morris and Michael Porter Jr. though to keep them in front. After one it was Nuggets thirty, Lakers twenty-seven.

The bench was filled with energy to start the second quarter and they utilized a 2-3 zone which gave the Lakers some issues. That helped the lead grow for Denver, who got ahead by six behind Morris, MPJ and JaMychal Green. The Lakers pushed back but they couldn’t string together enough baskets to cut into Denver’s lead. Unfortunately right when LA went cold so did Denver so their lead stayed right around 8 for several minutes. The Lakers flat out couldn’t buy a bucket though and eventually the Nuggets lead pushed to double digits. LeBron really was the anyone doing anything for LA, though the TNT announcing crew thought Schroder elevated to all NBA by diving on the floor. The Nuggets offense stalled a bit with the half ending but it didn’t hurt them much. At the close of the second they were still up by a dozen.

The second half opened with three quick foul calls on Denver in the first ninety seconds including a pair of and-ones for the Lakers. Every single call went LA’s way early in the third and the Nugget lead was down to five forcing Michael Malone to take a timeout. The Nuggets found some momentum behind Murray to hold off the Lakers run and held the lead at five at the halfway point of the quarter. The Lakers weren’t doing much in the way of offense but they got to the free throw line and kept the pressure on Denver. The Nuggets went ice cold with the quarter winding down and a nice fade away from LeBron got the Lakers the lead with a little over a minute to go. The next ninety seconds were the worst Denver’s bench has probably played all season, falling behind by eight on a 15-0 Los Angeles run.

The Nuggets offered no resistance to start the fourth which made Malone call a rage timeout with little over a minute gone in the fourth. The Nuggets play was just sloppy. They’d get a bucket but then fall asleep on defense or turn it over on the other way down. The Lakers lead ballooned to fourteen and it felt like all the air was out of Denver’s sails. Jokic took one last stab at it and got Denver within ten before a Lakers timeout and subsequent 5-0 run pushed the lead right back up again. Lebron threw a few more highlight passes and messed around and picked up a triple double. The deep bench checked in and it was done. Nuggets collapse in the second half, lose 114-93.

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Paul George responds to Lakers’ Jared Dudley calling him out in book

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In a memorable section of his new book that made waves on social media after it was published on this website on Wednesday, veteran forward Jared Dudley explained why the Los Angeles Lakers took such exception to the Clippers — and Paul George in particular — during the NBA Bubble.

“We think it’s disrespectful for Paul George, who hasn’t won, to put himself on the level of Bron and AD. This motivates us,” Dudley and his co-author, Carvell Wallace, wrote in the Kindle book, “Inside the NBA Bubble: A Championship Season under Quarantine.”

The comments were the topic-du-jour on NBA Twitter for the day, and just about everyone had an opinion on them. And by the evening, they had made it to George himself, who was asked to comment after the Clippers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday.

Funnily enough, “God bless Jared Dudley” was also my reaction when I read that passage, albeit maybe for different reasons.

But don’t worry Paul. We here at Silver Screen and Roll have a passion for service journalism, and so we put together a short list with a few of the reasons why NBA players like to throw your name in stuff.

As far as the Lakers go, I’d say this is likely what Dudley was referencing specifically.

A small thing? Perhaps, but as Dudley said today, NBA players look for motivation wherever they can find it.

As far as why guys in the NBA as a whole would feel comfortable taking shots at you, well, there is the fact that you’ve come out on the losing end of pretty much every feud you’ve had with anyone in the league.

For example, there was this:

Which you chose to respond to by saying this corny shit, for some reason:

And then there was this evisceration, right before your Clippers blew a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference Semifinals:

There was also, you know, the whole “blowing a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference Semifinals culminating in this horrendous shot” thing:

So those are probably why your name keeps coming up, I’d say. So hopefully this helps, and yes, God bless Jared Dudley for another fun day on NBA Twitter.

For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.



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Fans ejected after verbal spat with Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James in Atlanta

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Four courtside fans — at least one of whom was not covering her face with a mask — were ejected from Monday’s game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Atlanta Hawks following a verbal spat with Lakers star LeBron James, the Hawks confirmed to ESPN.

Juliana Carlos, who later posted on social media, and her husband, Chris Carlos, exchanged words with James in the fourth quarter of the visiting Lakers’ 107-99 win, prompting the ejection.

Juliana Carlos posted a video on her Instagram account showing the scene shortly after State Farm Arena security personnel and one of the referees, Mitchell Ervin, intervened.

She can be heard saying, “Shut the f— up. Don’t talk to my husband like that,” while standing on the sideline with her mask pulled down below her chin. Someone off camera can be heard asking her to put her mask on, which is required of all fans attending NBA games this season. She wrote “f—ing loser” in a text box to accompany the video, with her camera pointed at James.

After the ejection, Carlos posted a selfie-style video, offering her account of what happened.

“So, I’m minding my own business, and Chris has been a Hawks fan forever. He’s been watching the games for 10 years. Whatever, he has this issue with LeBron. I don’t have an issue with LeBron. I don’t give a f— about LeBron,” she says in the video. “Anyway, I’m minding my own business, drinking my [beverage], having fun. All of the sudden, LeBron says something to my husband, and I see this and I stand up. And I go, ‘Don’t f—ing talk to my husband.’ And he looks at me and he goes, ‘Sit the f— down, bitch.’ And I go, ‘Don’t f—ing call me a bitch. You sit the f— down. Get the f— out of here. Don’t f—ing talk to my husband like that.'”

James was not asked postgame about Carlos’ name-calling allegation, but he was not fazed by the incident and said he felt like an ejection was unnecessary.

“At the end of the day, I’m happy fans are back in the building,” he said after putting up 21 points, nine assists and seven rebounds to help L.A. to the road win. “I miss that interaction. I need that interaction; we as players need that interaction. I don’t feel like it was warranted to be kicked out.”

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LeBron James acknowledges he misses the interaction with fans and isn’t sure the spectators should have been removed from the game.

He did say that alcohol could have been a factor, however.

“They might have had a couple drinks, maybe,” he said. “And they could have probably kept it going during the game, and the game wouldn’t have been about the game no more, so I think the referees did what they had to do.”

James also said that Chris Carlos went “out of bounds” with whatever he directed at him. “I guess [Carlos] said something that rubbed the big dawg the wrong way,” added Lakers center Montrezl Harrell.

While James said he was not close enough to the fans to be potentially compromised by Juliana Carlos removing her mask, other members of the Lakers found it unacceptable.

“It certainly exposed something with regard to having fans in the pandemic,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. “You obviously can’t have fans taking their masks down and shouting at our players with the virus out there during these times.”

“With COVID going on, we obviously can’t have that,” L.A. big man Anthony Davis echoed. “We want to make sure we all can be safe.”

James later tweeted about Carlos, bestowing her with a derisive nickname commonly used to mock entitled white women.

The Hawks are one of nine NBA teams currently allowing fans to attend their home games. Atlanta’s State Farm Arena currently allows up to 8% of its capacity for Hawks games, according to a team official. Monday’s announced attendance was 1,341.

Despite the episode, several Lakers still supported fans coming to their games.

“We love having fans at the game. Whether we’re home or away, it just brings back the game that we love, that joy from the fans and the support,” Davis said. “Whether it’s 500 people or 1,000, 1,500, whatever it is, it’s always enjoyable to play in front of a crowd.”

“I love our fans,” James reiterated. “Laker Nation and everybody else that’s against Laker Nation. It just feels better. Fans in the stands is just — it’s just better. It’s better for everybody — especially on the last game of a 14-day road trip.”

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LeBron James heckled by fans during Lakers game, refs briefly stop play

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There were a limited number of fans in Atlanta, Ga., Monday night due to the coronavirus pandemic, but that didn’t appear to stop Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James from getting in a heated argument with some along the sidelines. 

Hecklers appeared to jaw with James during the fourth quarter of the contest between the Lakers and the Atlanta Hawks, which led to referees stopping play and security getting involved, according to a video of the incident posted on Twitter.

The fans in question were allegedly two women who were escorted from State Farm Arena. One of them gave the middle finger on her way out, according to The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner.

LEBRON JAMES REACTS TO TOM BRADY’S 10TH SUPER BOWL APPEARANCE: ‘AT OUR AGE, WE CAN STILL DOMINATE OUR SPORT’

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) is restrained by an official as he reacts to a fan in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Atlanta Hawks, Monday, Feb. 1, 2021, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

James appeared to shake off the incident, scoring 21 points, as the Lakers defeated the Hawks 107-99.

“At the end of the day, I’m happy fans are back in the building,” James said after the game. “I miss that interaction … We as players need that interaction.”

Last week, a Cleveland Cavaliers executive celebrated a missed shot from James at the end of the 3rd quarter during a game between the Lakers and Cavs. James would explode in the 4th quarter leading his team to a 115-108 victory in the contest. 

NBA FAN’S ‘LEBRON JAMES IS A RACIST’ SHIRT, INCIDENT WITH SECURITY LEADS TO REMOVAL DURING GAME: REPORT

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He remarked after the game that the unidentified person in question last week “got a little bit too excited.”



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Los Angeles Lakers take stock after loss to Detroit Pistons

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Mark the calendar: It was nine days into a seven-game road trip before the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers showed any sign of being vulnerable this season, in Thursday’s 107-92 loss to the Detroit Pistons.

L.A. mustered just 34 points in the second half — the fewest the Lakers have scored in any half since LeBron James joined the franchise in 2018 — and was outscored 25-14 in the fourth quarter by a Pistons team that came into the night with the second-worst record in the league at 4-14.

The Lakers went scoreless for nearly seven minutes — from the 8:40 mark in the fourth quarter until there was 1:50 on the clock — as the Pistons’ lead ballooned from one to 17. L.A. went on an 0-for-12 drought with two turnovers as Detroit took control.

“I think we just weren’t connected defensively at the level we were kind of supposed to be,” said Kyle Kuzma, whose 22 points and 10 rebounds were spoiled by the Lakers’ late collapse. “Individually, everybody made mistakes and collectively with those made the team defense suffer a little bit.”

That team defense, which was ranked No. 1 in the NBA going into Thursday, played without Anthony Davis, last season’s Defensive Player of the Year runner-up, who was out with a bruised right thigh.

Whatever explanation might have existed for the poor showing, be it the absence of Davis, the accumulation of road weariness or the challenge of a back-to-back, James didn’t want to hear it.

“I mean, we still have games to be played, work to be done,” he said. “We got to continue to get better, and you can’t really get your mind into the grasp of how many days you are on the road or whatever the case may be. Every team does it. Every team hits a long road trip. We’re professionals.

“We got to keep our minds fresh, keep our bodies fresh as much as we can to go out there and put together a complete 48-minute game, or close to 48 minutes. Obviously we haven’t done it the last couple of games, and we just got to be better on Saturday.”

Coach Frank Vogel challenged last year’s Lakers team not to drop consecutive games all season, and it has remained a part of the team culture this year. L.A. made it more than a quarter of the way through the season before failing the mission, losing to Detroit a night after falling in Philadelphia.

The back-to-back losses also marred the Lakers’ perfect 10-0 road record to begin the season, which had set a franchise record. They’re now 10-2, with games in Boston on Saturday and Atlanta on Monday to finish out the road trip.

While no one sounded the alarm, both Kuzma and James lamented how the Lakers are still trying to find a set rotation, and because of a lack of practice time, end up experimenting with new lineups in the games.

“We’re a brand-new team,” Kuzma said. “We’re playing like 14 people. It’s a tough situation. Obviously, we’re working through things. The coaching staff is trying to figure out rotations and figure out what works with what best, what players can play certain lineups. And that’s just the point of the season we’re in.”

Kuzma provided a 10,000-foot perspective, saying that losses — even bad ones like Thursday’s — are “just the beauty of the journey” and the regular season is meant to be a rehearsal to work out the kinks before the playoffs, anyway. And, as the Lakers’ road trip stretches beyond a week and a half, he acknowledged the very real challenge of constant travel. “It’s still a pandemic out here,” he said.

Vogel put the performance on himself, saying he has to do a better job of putting his players in a position to be successful, but ultimately chalked the night up as something that won’t faze his team.

“We’ll be fine,” Vogel said. “You have nights like this in a long season. We’ll be fine. We’ll bounce back. Not happy, none of us are happy with how we played tonight, but we’ll bounce back.”

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3 observations after Sixers pass their biggest test yet, pull off dramatic win over Lakers

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Though Wednesday night’s game was never going to provide a definitive answer to whether the Sixers are a bona fide NBA title contender, it was the team’s most significant early-season test yet.

The Sixers just about passed it, earning a 107-106 win over the defending champion Lakers to improve to 13-6.

Tobias Harris’ pull-up jumper on the Sixers’ last possession won the team the game and saved it from what would’ve been a bitterly disappointing loss.

Up 14 points with a little over five minutes to go, the Sixers late-game execution simply wasn’t good enough as they seemed more eager to watch the clock wind down than score.

“It shouldn’t have gotten that close,” Danny Green said. “We were up double digits most of the game and us growing and showing some maturity, hopefully, throughout the season we’ll keep that lead and keep our foot on the gas. But we had too many lapses, too many lulls of not playing solid offense and moving the ball, too many turnovers and bad shots on goal. And then defensively, just a couple lapses.”

Harris ultimately saved the day, and an off-balance Anthony Davis heave at the buzzer came up short. 

“I’m a person that visualizes myself in those spots,” Harris said. “When the opportunity came, we came out of the timeout and me and Seth (Curry) were talking and basically discussing how they’re more likely to switch that pick-and-roll coming off if Joel (Embiid) isn’t open, and just let me iso at the top and get to my spot.

 

“That’s a shot I work on time and time again. In those moments, being confident enough to let it go and being OK with the result. Tonight, it fared well.”

LeBron James posted 34 points, six rebounds and six assists in a losing effort, keeping Los Angeles competitive throughout the game. 

The win is the 2020-21 Sixers’ best thus far, an impressive response to the notion that their place at the top of the Eastern Conference is attributable to an easy schedule. 

Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey was not at the game as he’s working remotely because of COVID-19 contact tracing unrelated to the Sixers, according to a report from The Inquirer’s Keith Pompey. 

The Sixers next play on Friday night, a road matchup against the Timberwolves. Here are observations on their win over the Lakers: 

Simmons vs. James

Ben Simmons was in attack mode from the jump, scoring six of the Sixers’ first nine points, quickly eating up the ample space James gave him to operate and setting the tone well. 

James was predictably the focal point of the Lakers’ offense, and he burned Simmons and the Sixers’ zealous defense early by scoring off of multiple back cuts. James’ sense for when and how to use his wide array of skills remains special; he’s a basketball genius who happens to have extraordinary physical gifts. His aggression was necessary in the first half as Los Angeles shot 1 for 11 from three-point range and received no meaningful scoring from anyone besides James and Davis. 

Though James scored much more than his mentee, Simmons left his mark on the game in many ways, recording a triple-double with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. 

“He was huge,” head coach Doc Rivers said. “The numbers will say the offense, but the defense and all these other little things he did was unbelievable. He’s playing great. It’s funny, on his low-scoring nights, you look at the game film and he’s flying all over the place.

“The stuff he does for us, the winning things he does, it’s hard to put into numbers, and unfortunately we’re in this numbers generation where everything’s numbers. His brilliance sometimes is missed by a lot of people.”

Green said after the Sixers’ shootaround Wednesday that he sees why people link James and Simmons, but that he thinks it’s “unfair” to compare anyone to James. We think that’s a reasonable assessment. 

Embiid’s eventful evening 

It didn’t take long for Embiid to frustrate Marc Gasol, the man who guarded him during his career-worst 0-for-11 performance last season, as the 35-year-old picked up a technical foul in the first quarter for objecting to an Embiid and-one. The Sixers’ All-Star center started rolling after that, squaring up and making his move in the post before double teams could arrive. 

 

Rivers left Embiid in for over 10 minutes and played him in a lineup with no true power forward. That unit was excellent as the Sixers shaded help in the direction of whichever man was facing a size disadvantage on a particular defensive possession and continued to cook offensively, gaining a 34-18 lead. 

The non-Embiid minutes that followed were a lot less fruitful for the Sixers as the Lakers went on an 8-0 run. Dwight Howard missed four throws during that stretch and didn’t play well, prompting Rivers to insert Simmons as his team’s defensive center. A member of the Los Angeles bench yelled out “No rim protection” upon seeing that decision and, with all due respect to Simmons and his diverse defensive talents, the sentiment wasn’t wrong. 

That said, the Sixers were at least able to muster some offense and stabilize things a bit when Simmons replaced Howard. Rivers’ willingness to use Simmons at center is certainly a notable development; perhaps it’s a look the Sixers will start incorporating more if they envision featuring it in the playoffs. Rivers did give Howard his normal backup center minutes in the second half. 

The Sixers welcomed back Embiid’s ability to draw fouls (along with his many other skills, of course) after he missed the team’s loss Monday to the Pistons with back tightness. Embiid was 11 for 13 from the foul line and is now averaging 10.9 free throw attempts per game through 15 contests. 

Embiid (28 points, six rebounds, four assists) had an injury scare in the third period when he went up for a dunk and fell hard to the floor after James made contact with his chest. He pounded his fist into the floor and got up gingerly but stayed in the game and made both free throws. James was called for a Flagrant 1 foul, though Embiid said after the game he thought the 16-time All-Star should’ve been ejected.

Embiid was whistled for a Flagrant 1 foul of his own about a minute later when he hit Davis in the face with an elbow while looking to draw a foul on a drive. 

Complementary pieces step up 

In a star-centric game, the Sixers won in large part because their complementary players were better overall than the Lakers’.

At an important juncture early in the third quarter, Harris drove into Gasol’s body and laid the ball in to give the Sixers a 57-53 lead. Harris (24 points on 10-for-16 shooting) and Green (14 points on 5-for-11 shooting) both drained three-pointers shortly thereafter, helping the Sixers build their advantage back up to 12 points, forcing a Lakers timeout and removing some of the uneasiness that might have stemmed from the Lakers’ second-quarter comeback. 

Though the Lakers didn’t go away, Harris was vital again later in the third, converting a lefty layup, stopping Davis one-on-one twice in the post and enabling the Sixers to maintain their lead. His All-Star case certainly grew a little stronger Wednesday night, especially with his clutch jumper to cap a high-drama game.

 

“I hope we do all make it together,” Harris said when asked about himself, Embiid and Simmons possibly all being All-Stars. “Obviously, this season we’ve been playing great basketball as a team. We have the MVP on our team in Joel. He’s been playing lights-out since Day 1. Ben has been a great player. This year he’s been playing at a great pace, really dictating everything and defensively, offensively, doing his thing all around.

“I hope we do all make the game. For myself, I’ve always just been about winning and letting that handle itself, but I’ve been playing consistently at an All-Star level every night. I’m not one to always toot my own horn but in the past I’ve had a couple times where I felt like I should’ve been there and didn’t make it, so that would be my little pitch for it right there.”

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Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid says Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James should have been ejected for foul

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12:28 AM ET

  • Tim BontempsESPN

Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid said he believed Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James should’ve been assessed a level two flagrant foul and been ejected from Philadelphia’s 107-106 victory over the defending champions Wednesday night.

“Well, first of all, I mean you look at it, that’s a very dangerous play,” Embiid said of James’ foul, which came at the 5:44 mark of the third quarter. “I guarantee you that if it was me, I would have probably been ejected from the game, which has happened in the past with me getting flagrant fouls really for nothing.”

While Embiid was annoyed about James only being given a flagrant one — allowing him to remain in the game — he was equally bothered by the fact that, 68 seconds later, he was called for a flagrant one foul himself for an elbow to Anthony Davis that Embiid didn’t believe merited that penalty.

“When you compare that to the one that I got, which I thought I didn’t really hit him, I didn’t elbow him,” said Embiid, who had 28 points, six rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots in 38 minutes. “I might have touched him. But I don’t think it deserved the flagrant, if you’re gonna compare those two.

“Those are tough plays and I just thought, you know, it should’ve been a flagrant 2.”

For his part, Sixers coach Doc Rivers, a product of a different era of the sport that featured just a bit more physical play than today’s game, said he didn’t think either play should’ve been called for a flagrant at all.

His only concern in the moment was that Embiid, who fell several feet onto his back and writhed on the ground in pain, was all right after falling down. And while Embiid wasn’t moving as well after the play, he managed to stay in the game and help the Sixers win.

“First of all, LeBron’s not a dirty player,” Rivers said. “It was just a physical play and they had to call the flagrant, I guess.

“You know, all of the flagrants tonight … you can get a flagrant easy these days. But that fall was hard, and there was some concern there for sure. The fact that Joel kept going, clearly he wasn’t the same after that as far as his movement. And we kinda knew that and we used him a lot in pick and rolls because of that.”

Embiid, who has been on the injury report off and on recently with a sore back, which has kept him out of a game or two, said he won’t know how it responds until after he wakes up in the morning, but that he felt it limiting him during the game.

He said part of Philadelphia’s collapse down the stretch, which saw the Lakers score 13 straight points to erase 12-point Sixers lead with three minutes to go and take a 106-105 lead with 11.2 seconds remaining, was in part because of his back limiting his movement.

“It’s on me,” Embiid said of Philadelphia’s late-game slide. “I missed a couple shots. I just didn’t have the legs. Not because I was tired, which I wasn’t, but my back just didn’t allow me to dominate the way I’ve been doing in fourth quarters. I missed a couple shots, we made a couple mistakes on defense, they made a few threes, and just like that they were up 1.”

But just when it looked like the ongoing questions about the Sixers and their inability to close down the stretch would come back to haunt Philadelphia once again, the Sixers were bailed out by a terrific shot by Tobias Harris, who confidently took a pass, dribbled to the elbow against Lakers guard Alex Caruso and rose up to bury what turned out to be the game-winning jumper with 3.0 seconds remaining.

“I’m a person that I visualize myself in those spots, so when the opportunity came … that’s a shot I work on time and time again but in those moments just being confident enough to let it go and being OK with the result.

“Tonight, it fared well.”

It was a shot that also allowed the Sixers to laugh off those late-game foibles, a stretch that nearly ruined what had been an incredibly impressive performance by the hosts over the first 45 minutes against the NBA’s defending champions, one Harris said his team viewed as a measuring stick given the opponent they were facing.

“I would say a little bit of both,” said Harris, who finished with 22 points, when asked if he’d focus more on being happy he hit the game-winner or being frustrated at Philadelphia’s sloppy play late. “I’d say there’s always growth in everything. So, tonight’s win is a great win for us against a great team, but, at the same time, we know we could be better, especially in the fourth quarter.”

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Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James, Anthony Davis ‘still have trouble’ with Kobe Bryant’s death

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Three-hundred and sixty-three days following Kobe Bryant’s death and 104 days after winning an NBA championship in his honor, the Los Angeles Lakers’ co-captains, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, reflected on the time that has passed since the world lost Bryant.

“Man, it’s a saying that time heals all,” James said after a win over the Chicago Bulls on Saturday at the United Center, where Bryant’s idol, Michael Jordan, used to play. “And as devastating and as tragic as it was and still is to all of us involved with it, only time. And it takes time. Everyone has their own grieving process.”

Many among the Lakers and in Bryant’s family and close circle of friends are still in mourning, nearly a year after a helicopter crash killed 41-year-old Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven others.

“As we approach his one-year anniversary, it saddens our hearts to actually come to the realization that he’s gone,” Davis said. “I know I still have trouble with it, you still just can’t believe it.”

With emotions still raw, the Lakers organization has no plans to make this Tuesday, Jan. 26, any more difficult than it already will be by placing any further emphasis on the anniversary, sources told ESPN. There will be no Black Mamba uniforms worn Monday in Cleveland, the day before the anniversary, or Wednesday in Philadelphia, the day after. There will be no formal tribute, which could potentially draw more attention to the harrowing details of the accident and cause more trauma than healing.

The Lakers’ team will continue to pay homage to Bryant in the subtle ways many of its players have since last season: with pairs of Bryant’s signature sneakers on their feet, with a No. 24 finger sleeve on James’ hand, with Bryant’s nickname unifying the group in every huddle.

“To this day, it’s, ‘Mamba on three!’ anytime we bring it in because we still want to recognize that he’s a part of our organization,” Davis said. “And ever since the tragedy happened, we had a mindset that this is bigger than, you know, ourselves.”

James was asked about Bryant during several postgame news conferences this week and invited conversation about the Lakers luminary’s life, but he was reticent to dwell on the circumstances surrounding Bryant’s death.

“I try not to put myself back in that headspace, because it’s just too dark,” James said, “for not only myself but for our organization and for everyone that’s involved in it.”

Lakers center Marc Gasol, whose older brother, Pau, teamed with Bryant to win two championships, was also not ready to share his thoughts publicly.

“I’m not comfortable talking about it,” Gasol said. “I’m sorry. Still to this day, I have never really talked about it.”

But bring up how Bryant’s game mirrored Jordan’s? That was something James readily weighed in on, if only for the sake of Bryant’s basketball legacy.

“I only looked at Kobe for him,” James said. “And obviously you’ve seen a lot of the similarities between him and Mike, but I appreciated Kobe’s game for Kobe’s game. The way he played the game, the finesse that he played with, the ballhandling capabilities, the shooting, everything that he possessed on the floor — I respected him for who he was as a player and what he was able to bring onto the floor.

“The fact that he was able to take some things from MJ and look at some of MJ’s DNA and actually be able to do it — a lot of people try to do that, a lot of people wish they could take things from some of the greats, implement them into their game and then be successful, they just can’t. They don’t have the ability to do it. They don’t have the drive to do it, the mindset to do it. But he actually did it and did it at a high level for a long, long, long time. And you can respect that.”

And Davis marveled at the magnitude of Bryant’s lasting impact, an influence so omnipresent that the Lakers’ star big man never fully comprehended it while Bryant was still alive.

“I didn’t know, and I know he was very, very known and popular, but I didn’t know he impacted so many people’s lives outside of basketball,” Davis said. “From soccer, to football, to players overseas, to people who don’t even play sports, they’re always talking about the ‘Mamba Mentality.’ I didn’t know how impactful he was worldwide. … I just didn’t realize how many people he impacted worldwide that’s outside the basketball community.”

This season’s Lakers team is in pursuit of a repeat title to pair with the one it dedicated to Bryant’s memory.

“When the tragedy happened, it was more so, you know, ‘Let’s do it for him,'” Davis said. “And that’s what we ended up doing all last year. … We know we fought to the end for a purpose, and it wasn’t just for ourselves. It was for the Bryant family. And we were able to get that accomplished.”

While Bryant remains on the Lakers’ minds and in their hearts, James said that Bryant will be remembered because he’s not just being carried by his former franchise, but by the people all over the planet he once thrived in.

“There’s a lot of things that die in this world, but legends never die, and he’s exactly that,” James said. “So it’s all about representing that.”

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Los Angeles Lakers’ Anthony Davis says he’s seeking to get out of ‘funk’

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Anthony Davis might have performed better as a facilitator in crunch time than he ever has before in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 113-106 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday, but the All-Star big man was still hypercritical of his play.

“Right now, to be hard on myself, man, I think I suck right now,” Davis said after finishing with 18 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 blocks. “I’m not making shots. I’m not making free throws. But I think tonight my aggressiveness, just being a [post-up threat] and getting to the paint, allowed guys to get open.”

He did miss 10 of the 18 shots he attempted — shooting just 44.4% compared to the 53.2% clip he came into the night connecting on this season. And he went just 2-for-5 from the foul line, which made the career 80.1% free throw shooter just 14-for-22 (63.6%) in his past three games.

His passing, however, proved to be a difference-maker. The Lakers went 3-for-3 off Davis’ feeds in the final three minutes, allowing visiting L.A. to turn a one-possession game into a relatively comfortable win.

It was the most assists he has ever had in clutch time in a game in his career.

He laced a dish to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to boost L.A.’s lead from two to five with 2 minutes, 42 seconds remaining; he found Alex Caruso in the corner for another 3 to put the Lakers up by seven a minute later; and he set up LeBron James for a 3 with 1:04 remaining to give his team an eight-point cushion. The final flurry sealed the win and allowed the Lakers to extend their road winning streak to 8-0 to begin the season.

“I trust my teammates. AC hit one for me. Bron hit one and Kenny hit one, and they’re in the right spots where I want guys when I have the ball in the post,” Davis explained. “And just [am] able to make the read with their guys doubling or collapsing to the paint when I get there, and was able to kick it out and those guys made shots.”

While Davis finished with fewer than 20 points for the fifth straight game — his longest sub-20 streak last season was limited to just three games during the seeding games in the bubble when L.A. had already locked up the No. 1 seed — his assists have been on an uptick.

Five of Davis’ six assists against the Bucks led to a 3-pointer for L.A. — tied for the most 3s he has ever assisted on in a single game in his career — and his 13 assists over the past two games are the most he has ever had in a two-game span since joining the Lakers.

James explained that he knew Davis had this passing ability in him all along but he rarely got to display it in New Orleans because teams would play him one-on-one, figuring he can’t beat them all by himself.

“But I felt like since he’s been here, he’s so damn good that I know eventually he’s going to see a lot of double-teams,” James said.

Once those doubles come, James said, Davis has been coached to spot the lanes he can target to find open teammates.

“He’s continuing to grow every single game. Every single film session, we kind of break those things down — what he sees on the floor,” James said. “Tonight was another example of him just seeing the other side of the floor and putting the ball on time, on target and guys knocking it down.”

Much like Davis, Lakers coach Frank Vogel left the win unsatisfied, even though the Bucks came into the night ranked No. 2 in offensive efficiency and averaging 120.4 points per game and the Lakers held them far below that output.

“Well, we have to be better,” Vogel said. “We didn’t play our best basketball game tonight.”

It’s the tone of a team seeking something far more substantial than a regular-season win in January.

“My aggressiveness tonight,” Davis said, “that’s the only way I feel like I’m gonna get out of this funk or whatever that I’m in.

“I put a lot of pressure on myself to be a better basketball player every game, and that’s what I’m gonna continue to do.”

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