In a bizarre turn of events, both fans from the Lakers and Sixers were hoping their teams could come up with a loss last night. The reason being that obviously the lower your team finishes in the league, the higher the chance of picking up the number one draft pick in the lottery will be. With playoff hopes for both teams extinguished a long time ago, it’s easy to see why fans are actually rooting for their teams to lose games! But it almost turned into a win for Philly.
The Sixers themselves put on an impressive display throughout the game including another emphatic four quarters from Nerlens Noel, only to let Lakers player Jordan Clarkson sneak an easy layup in the final second of overtime to clinch a 113-111 win. As soon as the buzzer went it was the strangest of atmospheres. With both fanbases divided, there were boos from the Lakers Loyal and cheers from the Sixers Nation but equally silenced by the opposite from both sides.
The win improved the Lakers to 20-53 and edged them slightly further away from the bottom five spot..which is an actual boost for the Sixers because they hold the Lakers’ top-five protected first-round pick in the upcoming draft.
The Sixers’ record dropped to 18-57 with the loss, but Nerlens Noel picked up the entire team and led the Sixers with 19 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block. After an impressive assist early on, he also set up the equalising two pointer prior to the Jordan Clarkson shot. The 20-year-old center recorded his 17th double-double on the season, and reached his fifth straight game with double digit rebounds.Ish Smith showed vast signs of improvement and played 32 minutes, picking up 17 points, three assists and not committing a single turnover.
The game was strangely a lot more impressive than some of their recent games. Despite giving up 34 points in the second, the team were shooting solidly and transitioned well in a game where the lead changed seven times. It was a thriller and the team fought until the final buzzer.
IF more Sixers fans are going to join the “lose as many as we can to establish draft superiority” wagon then they may have a party after the next fixture. The Sixers face the 5th overall placed Wizards who own a 41-33 record in their final meeting of the season.
