The Lakers were looking for their first win in eight games and they got it tonight with a 100-89 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Lakers started off the game with an 11-0 run and dominated the Sixers for the entire game. The closest the game got after the first quarter was seven.

The Lakers have a tough road trip ahead and tonight’s win should hopefully let them worry about playing good basketball instead of forcing a win to break the streak.

Randle and Russell Are Back

In the first three weeks of the NBA season Julius Randle was playing with energy and looked like a much improved player. D’Angelo Russell also looked good as he was building on his rookie season and looked like a future star.

They both caught the injury bug but now that both of them have been back for a couple games they’re looking like they did at the beginning of the season. Russell started off the game with seven points in the first quarter and looked red hot. He eventually cooled down but finished the game with a line of 15 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Randle was all over the place as he was getting rebounds, scoring, and dropping dimes. He finished the first half with 13 points, and ended the game with a career high 25 points. He added nine rebounds, four assists, and three steals. He was big reason for the win.

Larry Nance and Lou Williams

Larry Nance, Jr. has played well the entire season and he showed signs of improvement tonight. He was defending the rim like a center and defending against guys like Joel Embiid isn’t an easy thing to do. He also picked up 11 rebounds and had two blocks.

Lou Williams was his usual self and had 18 points in a measly 23 minutes. He didn’t need to take control of the game because Russell was back but he was still productive off the bench.

Lakers Core vs Sixers Core

The Lakers win their first matchup against the Sixers of the 2016-17 season.  These too franchises are going to be talked about a lot in the upcoming years as both have loads of young talent and look to compete at the same time.

The Sixers are known for “The Process” and that led them to picking Joel Embiid 3rd overall in 2014. Embiid has been the ROY frontrunner so far averaging 17.5 points and 7.5 rebounds. He didn’t put up huge stats tonight, but he showed off the skills that make him a potentially generational talent. He was euro stepping and making three’s as a 7’2 center.

Ben Simmons didn’t play tonight, but once he’s healthy he and Embiid will make future Lakers/Sixers games very interesting.

Fan Takeaways

Randle is awesome, period.

— 🅱️🅱️🅱️ (@pratamayugi) December 17, 2016

Lakers held someone under 100 points!

— Thai Luong (@thailuong33) December 17, 2016