On March 24, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, and the Los Angeles Lakers sat at home to meet the Philadelphia 76ers. After four fierce quarters of fighting, the Lakers finally lost to the opponent 121-126 and had no chance to win consecutively.
Although they lost the game, the Lakers showed their resilience. Westbrook contributed a quasi-triple-double of 24 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists, which is his 50% shooting rate in three consecutive games, which is quite rare this season; veteran Howard has 24 points and 8 rebounds on 9-of-14 shooting in the 28 minutes on the bench, which is also his first 20 points in nearly two years. In poor shape for most of the season, the Purple and Gold have recently shown some positive signs to fans.
Lakers star James missed this game because of the sore left knee, but he still can't escape criticism and questioning from the outside world. Well-known sports commentator Skip Bayless lashed out at James on his show, accusing him of cheating and missing the game just to avoid a showdown with Embiid.
"Well, James missed two games against the 76ers this season because of 'sore knees,' what was he afraid of? Is it to escape the fight with Embiid, or do you not want to face Sebur's defense? Skip Bayless said.
Skip Bayless is known to be a well-known James, and he has publicly criticized James many times over the past few years, having previously criticized James for comparing himself to NFL legend Brady;he didn't think James could compete with Jordan for the best title in history; not long ago he also publicly questioned James's concern for personal data and didn't care about team victories...
Perhaps Skip Bayless's questioning gave James some impetus, the 37-year-old veteran averaged 30 points, 8.2 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game this season, shooting 52.3% from the field and 35.4% from three-point range, including the league-winning average, and he is expected to win the leading scorer again in the 19th year of his career!