LeBron Passes Koby Bryant, LA Lakers Lose to Philadelphia 76ers, 108-91

LeBron James had a historic night in Philadelphia, but his Lakers would try to forget it pretty soon, as they lost against the 76ers. The hosts won the game pretty easily, 108-91, while King James eclipsed Kobe Bryant on the third place of the all-time scoring list.

He needed 19 points in this one to jump over the Black Mamba, who won five titles with the Lakers. To make it even more special, he did it in Philly, the hometown of one of the best ever NBA players.

With 7:23 until the end of the third, James scored the point which pushed him ahead of Bryant.

“Continuing to move the game forward (at)KingJames. Much respect my brother (hash)33644,” Kobe wrote moments after LBJ passed him.

LeBron James gets to the bucket to move up to 3rd on the all-time scoring list! pic.twitter.com/almofNRKrg

— NBA (@NBA) January 26, 2020

Although he passed their local guy, the fans at the Wells Fargo Center made a standing ovation to James.

But all this didn’t help the purple and gold to beat the 76ers, who controlled this contest right from the start. They already had a 12-point lead in the opening quarter, 30-18, and they kept that lead until the end.

The Lakers were trying to come back in the second period, but each time they would make some move, the hosts replied with the same measure.

Philly began pounding hard at the start of the second half, once they made a 15-2 series, which gave them an even more comfortable lead. Tobias Harris with seven and Ben Simmons with five points ignited the hosts’ machine, and pretty soon, the 76ers had the 22-point edge.

“They punched us in the first quarter,” said Frank Vogel. “They are a great home team, Saturday night game, we knew it was going to be an electric crowd.”

The purple and gold had one big push in the fourth, coming down to just five points, 93-88, but the reaction of the 76ers was more than enough to finally break down the Western Conference leaders. They’ve scored 11 straight points, and allowed only three for the guests until the end of the contest.

Harris and Simmons led the way with the 76ers. Tobi scored 29 points, had 8 boards and shot 10-for-20 from the field.

Meanwhile, Simmons was two assists short from getting another triple-double with 28 points and 10 boards, also recording four steals. Simmons missed just three of his 15 field-goal attempts.

“He was so so good,” Brett Brown, the 76ers head coach stated about Simmons. “And good in multiple positions. And then defensively, when you look at the disturbance Matisse and Ben caused, they had nine cumulative turnovers….he was really special tonight on a really talented court.”

Al Horford was the only one among the 76ers with a double-digit number of points, having 16 of them with 6 boards.

Anthony Davis scored a game-high 31 buckets had 7 rebounds and two steals. James had 29 with 8 assists and 7 boards. He would hit 10 of his 13 free throws but also had 8 turnovers tonight.

The fact that Lakers didn’t have a single player with more than seven points apart from these two is the main reason why they lost this game. Plus, they’ve made just six threes in 31 attempts and added 21 turnovers.

The LAL (36-10) head back home now following a five-game road trip during which they had 3 wins and 2 losses. The next two matches the purple and gold play are both at the Staples Center against the Clippers and the Portland Trail Blazers.

On the other side, the 76ers (30-17) await the Warriors on Tuesday, before kicking off a four-game tour. Brown’s boys are starting it in Atlanta, and also meet the Celtics, Heat and the Bucks after that. The toughest possible challenge for them.