First, Nerlens Noel hit a game tying shot with about ten seconds left. On the ensuing Lakers possesion, Wayne Ellington took the ball up the floor for his team. Ellington made a few dribble moves at the top of the key, and tried to drive past Hollis Thompson, but Hollis played great defense and stayed right in front of Ellington. Robert Covington then played help defense, and that forces Ellington to spin around and pick up his dribble.
As all of this is happening, Jordan Clarkson of the Lakers gets lost by the Phildelphia 76ers defense who are just watching the ball, and Clarkson cuts backdoor behind Nerlens Noel. As Ellington spins, he sees Clarkson, and he throws a great underhanded pass right between Covington and Thompson to find the open Clarkson. Clarkson takes the pass, and turns around and hits a baby hook shot to win the game for the Lakers.
In the game, the Lakers rookie Jordan Clarkson was doing big things other than just hitting game winners. By the end of the game, Clarkson’s stat sheet was glowing. Clarkson finished the game with 26 points, 11 assists, 6 rebounds, and 3 steals. Clarkson was not just clutch in OT, as he hit 4 free throws in the final 22 seconds of the game to help the Lakers force the game into overtime.
Clarkson had a great night tonight, but he was not the only Lakers player that had a fantastic night. Jabari Brown, Clarkson’s Missouri teammate, scored a career-high 22 points tonight in the Lakers win, and Lakers big man Ryan Kelly also had a career-high 4 blocks to go along with 16 points. The Lakers had good output from a lot guys tonight and pulled out the win when it came down to crunch-time.
The Los Angeles Lakers may have a future star in Jordan Clarkson.
