Embiid, 76ers cruise past short-handed Lakers

LOS ANGELES – The Philadelphia 76ers, fueled by 26 points from Joel Embiid, cruised to a 105-87 victory Thursday (Friday, Manila time) over a Los Angeles Lakers team missing superstar LeBron James.

Embiid's impressive streak of four straight games with at least 35 points and 10 rebounds ended.

But even his relatively quiet night — which also featured nine rebounds, seven assists and two blocked shots — was plenty for a Sixers team that drained 13 3-pointers to the Lakers' six from beyond the arc.

Embiid did take his streak of games with at least 25 points to 16 straight — second longest in 76ers history after Allen Iverson's 27-game streak in 2001.

With four-time NBA Most Valuable Player James, second in the league in scoring with 29.1 points per game, sidelined with a sore left knee, Anthony Davis did what he could to pick up the slack.

Davis, playing his second game since missing 17 with a sprained knee, scored 31 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for the Lakers in an impressive, aggressive performance.

But he had little support. Russell Westbrook added 20 points, but the remaining three Lakers starters combined for just 15.

Davis also got a scare, hurting his right wrist in the first half and playing with it taped the rest of the game.

"Anthony played a hell of a game on both sides of the ball," Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. "It was good to see him get a rhythm. (He) made some terrific plays on Embiid."

Vogel admitted it was frustrating to again find himself unable to get his star duo on the court at the same time.

"But this is what every team in the league goes through," Vogel said. "We have to play better than we played tonight."

The 76ers were missing injured Seth Curry and Shake Milton. But Tobias Harris contributed 23 points and Tyrese Maxey and Georges Niang scored 14 apiece for the hosts.