We would be looking at Dario Saric’s first career 30-point game if he could hit free throws. I get that the tank has to be maintained at all costs, but 30 points is more important than even that. All he had to do was make that last one to elevate this performance from “really darn good” to “I don’t even know who Joel Embiid is any more”.
I guess I can settle for “really darn good” for now. Saric played a great game, cementing his now-inevitable ROY award and propelling the Lakers a little closer to their ultimate tanking destiny. He did it all. Jumpers. Layups. Hair Flips. Dunks. He even got his teammates involved a little bit even though he was the best scorer on the court and had no reason whatsoever to pass the ball.
He probably should have been called for a tech late in the game when he slammed the ball into the court and it bounced away from him. That’s a tech in most situations, but the refs decided the Lakers need this loss more than the Sixers, so they didn’t call it. You think the league is gonna let a team out-tank the Lakers? No way. Their tank is impenetrable this year, especially compared to the Sixers’ lackluster one.