Lakers earn comeback win over 76ers despite early departure of Luka Doncic

LOS ANGELES — A team’s first game after the NBA trade deadline can be strange.

The same can be said after a long road switch, which the Lakers came away from after their two-week “Grammy” trip.

And the Lakers experienced all aspects of a strange evening during Thursday night’s 119-115 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers Crypto.com Arena.

Star guard Luka Doncic left the game in the second quarter due to soreness in his left leg, with it not immediately clear how he suffered an apparent injury to his hamstring area, which he grabbed after being cut off on a drive to the basket late in the second.

The Lakers, already with Jaxson Hayes (one-game suspension) and Luke Kennard (trade acquisition), had to make significant changes to their pre-existing rotation, even more so when Doncic left the game.

All that on top of the fact that it’s just two days away from a week and a half stay in the Midwest and East Coast.

Despite all the factors, the Lakers successfully pulled off a 14-point comeback behind a stellar second half from Austin Reaves, who led the Lakers with 35 points and six rebounds off the bench in just his second game back from his left calf injury.

LeBron James had a double-double of 17 points and 10 assists and had strong late moments to make up for his turnover issues, with James scoring 10 points in the fourth. James had eight of the Lakers’ 22 giveaways, including a turnover on a late play.

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Maxi Kleber, who has made just one appearance in the Lakers’ rotation in the past month, provided game-changing energy. Even though this wasn’t reflected in traditional box score stats, Kleber still had a game-best plus-23 individual plus/minus.

What it means

There were clear positives and negatives from Thursday night.

The good: Reaves looked like his pre-injury self, just in his second game back from a calf injury that sidelined him for nearly six weeks.

The clear negative was Doncic’s injury, with uncertainty surrounding his status beyond Thursday.

But another positive was that the Lakers went 31-19 on the season, keeping a pace to win 50 games entering the 50th game of the season.

Turning point

When Rui Hachimura scored seven straight points for the Lakers late in the third quarter, the team’s deficit was cut to two entering the fourth.

The Lakers, who did not hold a lead through the first three quarters, closed the 14-point deficit early in the third quarter several times later in the quarter.

But they needed one big boost to really threaten the 76ers, and Hachimura provided that.

On three straight possessions, Hachimura knocked down a corner 3, a stepback 14-footer and a pair of free throws after drawing a shooting foul to cut the Lakers’ deficit from 83-78 to 87-85 by the end of the third.

Hachimura finished with 14 points and seven rebounds off the bench.

MVP: Austin Reaves

Reaves scored 21 points in the second half, including key buckets early in the fourth, giving the Lakers their first lead.

He shot 12 of 17 from the floor for the game, including 5 of 8 on 3s.

Game stat: 61

That’s how many points the Lakers got off their bench, which equates to a league average of 27.3 points.

Reaves was responsible for the reserves’ scoring surge, but he wasn’t alone: ​​every bench player had strong moments.

Next

The Lakers will continue their long homestand with a primetime matchup against the Golden State Warriors Crypto.com Arena.

It will be the second of eight straight home games the Lakers have squeezed into All-Star weekend.