Against the Philadelphia 76ers, who are stronger and ranked higher on paper and rankings, the Los Angeles Lakers still have reservations despite playing at home, except for Anthony Davis, who has been out of the game for a long time due to injury, and several home players, including LeBron James, Trevo Ariza and Avery Bradley, also did not play. However, Russell Westbrook single-handedly led the team, leading a group of substitute players but playing with the powerful 76ers inextricably, although in the end it was still 121-126, but this mental outlook and fighting spirit are commendable, and the Lakers can be regarded as a defeat in this game.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis are absent, the Lakers are seriously affected on paper strength, but on the other hand, the players do not have any pressure, like Stanley Johnson and Gabriel are all out-and-out marginal people, but there is never a shortage of hard work. In this game, the Lakers had four players cut 20+ points, Westbrook's predecessor, with a 50%shooting rate to cut a quasi-triple-double of 24 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists; Malik Munch continued to play as a substitute, also shooting 50% of the time to get 23 points and 3 rebounds; Cameron Anthony also had a stable performance, with 20 points and 7 rebounds. And the most eye-catching is the former league's first center Dwight Howard, in the absence of a major general, Lakers coach Vogel finally let Howard as the starting point, in his opinion this may be a helpless move, did not expect Howard 14 shots 9, got 24 points and 8 rebounds, against Joel Embiid also did not fall behind, really can be described as the old man talking about juvenile madness.
Dwight Howard, at his peak, was the league's undisputed number one center. He has been selected as an All-Star eight times, the league rebounding champion five times, became the king of consecutive blocks in the 08-09 and 09-10 seasons, and even won the best defensive player award for three consecutive years. Especially in the 08-09 season, Dwight Howard also led the Orlando Magic as the absolute core to eliminate the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers in a row, all the way to the Finals, but unfortunately lost to the Lakers led by Kobe Bryant.
Unfortunately, the injury made Howard experience ups and downs in the middle and late stages of his career, as early as the 11-12 season, he played for the Los Angeles Lakers, but at that time, Howard was not only trapped by injuries, but also immature enough, and Kobe Bryant had no way to coexist, and the two sides broke up. After joining the Rockets, Howard and Harden had a short honeymoon period, but the latter had not yet entered the peak, and when Harden grew up, Howard began to decline again. Since the Rockets left, Howard simply had to change teams every year, during which he was also cut by the Brooklyn Nets and Memphis Grizzlies, and those years were indeed a bit difficult for Howard.
Howard was left alone in the summer of 2020 and was about to leave the NBA. Until the Lakers' newly signed other former All-Star center, DeMarcus Cousins, was injured in training and paid off early for the season, inadvertently becoming a turning point in Howard's career. Lakers management, anxious to find a replacement, contacted him again, and in order to show sincerity, Howard even took the initiative to ask for an unsecured basic salary contract. Later in the story we all know, in the 19-20 season Howard played more as a substitute, which is completely on par with his peak, but he averaged 7.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, making him one of the league's best bench centers. And in the playoffs, Howard also had a good performance, and helped the Los Angeles Lakers to reach the top again after a decade, and Howard himself got the coveted championship ring.
That summer, the Lakers' multiple players were in high demand, and management did not prioritize keeping Howard, but he joined the Philadelphia 76ers as a free agent. Howard was still a team bench center last season, and he also had a good performance when Embiid was resting or absent, averaging 7 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. So last summer, the Lakers brought in experienced former All-Star players and signed Howard back by the way, and he was quite interesting, and signed a one-year, $2.64 million base salary contract with the Lakers. However, this season, the coaching staff did not trust Howard very much, even in the case of Jordan Jr.'s complete abandonment and the "thick eyebrow brother" Anthony Davis was also absent due to injury for a long time, Lakers coach Vogel was willing to play in the small ball lineup for a long time, so that LeBron James was a center, did not give Howard too much playing time.
And this 76ers against the full team, Howard can have such a performance, indicating that he still has a battle, Lakers head coach Vogel's past employment is indeed too conservative. We can even boldly assume that considering that the Lakers' small-ball lineup has been repeatedly exploded, if you use more internal lines like Howard, it is estimated that you can lose a few games less, and the ranking will naturally go up. Of course, it is too late to say this, for the Lakers, their regular season ranking has basically been determined, I hope that in addition to the injured can recover as soon as possible, the coaching staff can also reuse Howard's strength and experience of the player.