Sixers take on Lakers, Lonzo Ball in Summer League Playoff battle

By Josh Liddick, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The Philadelphia 76ers Summer League squad will have an intriguing matchup on Wednesday night in the opening round of the Vegas Tournament.

The Sixers will take on the Lakers in a closely contested battle. The 76ers are slated as the 18-seed, while LA is the 15-seed.

Without Markelle Fultz, the Sixers will have to hold off on matching up the top two draft picks of this season's NBA Draft, as Lonzo Ball is expected to take the floor tonight.

The Lakers played an impressive matchup against the Sacramento Kings on Monday, a three point victory for Los Angeles. The Lakers are 1-2 going into tonight's game, with the Sixers in a similar situation, also at 1-2.

The Lakers/Kings battle was one that went down to the very last minute with Sacramento's Buddy Hield and LA's Vander Blue trading three-point shot after three-point shot.

The Sixers did a good job of playing the Celtics close on Tuesday night, in fact, a late contest rally nearly knocked off Boston and their undefeated Summer streak.

Without Fultz, the Sixers have been pretty good at staying in games in the final seconds and taking advantage of opportunities to go ahead in crucial situations.

The Lakers were winless going into Monday's game, but it seems like they will have added momentum going into tonight's game after a thrilling victory and now the return of Lonzo Ball to floor.

Lonzo's last game was over the weekend with an 11 point, 11 board, 11 assist night giving him a triple-double after being very unimpressive in his debut game, only shooting the ball 2-of-15 from the floor.

Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot stepped up for the Sixers on Tuesday with a 16 point showing after a lip laceration from the first game kept him out of the second game.

A key Sixer to look out for in this game is Alex Poythress, who brought a sense of added energy that some of the team has lacked in recent games.

Poythress had nine points and four rebounds for the Sixers, but his intensity goes a much longer way than his stat line shows.

Jonah Bolden continues to be as impressive as when he started back in Utah. Bolden had 13 points and eight rebounds against Boston on Tuesday, and he continues to show his range while still being a big-man type presence for the team.

There are a lot of storylines to consider, but the Sixers will need to advance tonight, and face the Cleveland Cavaliers if they want to continue to play this summer.