Joel Embiid racked up 30 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists as the Philadelphia 76ers rolled to a 138-94 rout of the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday, giving LeBron James the most lopsided loss of his 21-year NBA career.

Tyrese Maxey complemented Embiid's sixth career triple-double with 31 points and eight assists, and the 76ers dominated from the 3-point line to also record their largest margin of victory in 290 all-time regular-season meetings with the Lakers.

James' previous worst loss came by 42 points, a 136-94 defeat to the Indiana Pacers on Feb. 5, 2019, in his first season with the Lakers. The NBA's all-time leading scorer finished with 18 points and five assists but failed to register a rebound.

Philadelphia finished 22 of 46 from 3-point range compared to 7 of 28 for Los Angeles, which trailed by double digits since late in the first quarter and were outscored by a whopping 40-14 margin in the fourth despite the 76ers resting Embiid and fellow starters Tobias Harris and De'Anthony Melton the entire period.

Anthony Davis ended with 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Lakers, who have dropped two of three since a 6-1 stretch from Nov. 10-21.

Nuggets handle Clippers despite Jokic resting

DeAndre Jordan filled in well for a resting Nikola Jokić as the Denver Nuggets rallied for a 113-104 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

Jordan posted 21 points, 13 rebounds and five assists starting in place of Jokic, who was held out with Denver playing for the second consecutive night. Reggie Jackson had 13 of his game-high 35 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Nuggets back from an 11-point deficit to start the period.

Jackson, who spent parts of four seasons with the Clippers before being traded away in February, added 13 assists. Jordan played his first 10 NBA seasons with Los Angeles from 2008-18.

The Nuggets trailed 88-77 after three quarters before outscoring the Clippers by a 36-16 margin in the fourth. They went ahead for good when Jackson capped a 15-2 run to start the period with a short floater that gave Denver a 92-90 lead with under 7 1/2 minutes left.

Los Angeles, which had won four of five following a 3-7 start, went just 4 of 17 from the field in the fourth quarter and got just six points on 2-of-13 shooting from star Paul George.

Kawhi Leonard led the Clippers with 31 points and eight rebounds, while Ivica Zubac recorded 23 points and 14 boards. 

Wizards halt nine-game losing streak, extend Pistons' skid to 14

Kyle Kuzma compiled 32 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists to lead the Washington Wizards to a 126-107 victory over the Detroit Pistons in a matchup of the NBA's two worst teams.

Washington, which entered the game with an identical 2-14 record to Detroit, halted a nine-game losing streak. The Pistons have now lost 14 consecutive games, tied for the longest skid in franchise history within a single season.

The Wizards led by just one early in the third quarter before Kuzma took over, as the veteran forward scored 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting for the period to help extend Washington's advantage to 94-83 entering the fourth.

Washington maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way while shooting 50.6 per cent from the field for the game. Deni Avdija and Danilo Gallinari each contributed 16 points to the victory.

Cade Cunningham led Detroit with 26 points and seven assists, while Jalen Duren finished with 12 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks.

Defending champions Edwin Allen High and Kingston College are the respective girls' and boys' leaders at the end of action on the penultimate day of the 2023 ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls Championships at the National Stadium in Kingston on Friday.

After 22 completed finals on Friday, Edwin Allen has scored 147 points with their fierce rivals Hydel High on 131.5 points. Holmwood Technical have so far amassed 92 points while St Jago High (80) and St Catherine High (47) rounding out the top-five girls schools.

Among the boys, Kingston College, after 21 finals has scored 190 points, 30 clear of Jamaica College (160).  Calabar High have 95 points. St Elizabeth Technical (54) and St Jago (37) complete the top five schools.

In the finals completed on Friday, Shameer Blake and Oneika McAnuff proved too strong for their rivals in the Class I 400m hurdles.

In the Class II event, Jamaica College’s Deandre Gayle lived up to his favourite tag to win a keenly contested race.

Blake of St. Elizabeth Technical took command of his final from the get-go and enjoyed a comfortable lead up to about 350m when Edwin Allen’s Tyrece Hyman began to close with every stride. Hyman was on Blake’s shoulder as they cleared the final hurdle but the STETHS athlete dug deep to hold Hyman off and win in 50.76.

Hyman was a close second in 51.04. He had to hold off a fast-finishing Antonio Forbes of Kingston College, who clocked 51.09 for the bronze medal.

It was the opposite for McAnnuff, the defending champion who found herself in fourth place as the hurdlers made their way down the home stretch. However, she surged to get by Tonyan Beckford of Edwin Allen and win comfortably in 56.46.

Beckford won the silver medal clocking 57.14. Hydel’s Alliah Baker, who was also ahead of McAnnuff late, faded to third in 58.37.

The Class II event was a battle royal between Gayle, Requel Reid of Calabar and Taj-Oneil Gordon of Kingston College. All three were within close proximity with just over 80m to go when Gayle surged to separate himself from the now chasing pack.

He managed to hold on and win in 52.75 over Reid who ran 53.24 for the silver medal. Gordon had to settle for the bronze having run 53.70.

Ainsley Campbell of Kingston College won the 2000m steeplechase in 6:13.57, almost five seconds ahead of Nellie Ambriton of Jamaica College, who crossed the finish line in 6:18.56. Adriano Brown of  Calabar High ran 6:22.33 to claim the bronze medal.

The girls’ event went to Kaydeen Johnson of Hydel High who ran 7:15.01 to win the gold medal over Terrica Clarke of Holmwood Technical, who clocked 7:17.04 and Sanyae Gibson of Edwin Allen High, who stopped the clock at 7:27.51.

In the field, Dionjah Shaw of Edwin Allen High threw 46.27m to win the Girls Class II discuss over her teammate Shamoyea Morris, who flung the disc out to a mark of 44.95m. Marla-Kay Lambert of Clarendon College threw 43.15m for the bronze medal.

Gabrilla Treasure of St Catherine emerged the victor in a closely contested Class IV high jump for girls with a clearance of 1.55m. Campion College’s Stefvanco Henry also sailed over 1.55m but finished second on the count back.

Meanwhile, Adajah Drysdale of Wolmer’s Girl finished third after clearing 1.50m.

The Class I Girls high jump was won by Vere Technical’s Torian Caven who sailed over 1.82m. Edwin Allen’s Rasheda Samuels won the silver medal with her clearance of 1.79m and Richelle Stanley of St Elizabeth Technical picking up the bronze medal with 1.70m.

Trevon Hamel of Jamaica College picked up a valuable nine points in the Class I triple jump leaping out to 15.61m to take the gold medal.

Javar Thomas of Kingston College jumped 15.37m for the silver medal and seven points while Kesean Rhoomes of Cornwall College who established a mark of 14.50m.

It is safe to say Jrue Holiday enjoyed himself in the NBA last week.

The former All-Star sparkled for the Milwaukee Bucks before the weekend brought news of a four-year, $160million extension.

On the evidence of his performances since last Monday, it was a well-earned reward.

Holiday leads this week's NBA Heat Check, powered by Stats Perform data, alongside a man he might have counted as a team-mate this season.
 

RUNNING HOT...

Jrue Holiday

The Bucks paid a big price to get Holiday from the New Orleans Pelicans in a bid to persuade Giannis Antetokounmpo to stay. It was a move that worked in that sense and is increasingly showing its merit on the floor, too.

Milwaukee may have tumbled to third in the East this season, but they are showing signs they might finally provide a threat in the playoffs.

Holiday will be key to that, as he was during a three-game winning run last week. After starting their road trip with defeat at the Los Angeles Clippers, in which Holiday scored 24 points, the point guard tallied 28, 22 and 33 respectively in victories over the Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers and Sacramento Kings.

An average of 26.8 over those seven days lifted Holiday's seasonal mark from 15.9 to 17.0.

Bogdan Bogdanovic

As the Bucks desperately sought reinforcements to prove their ambition to Antetokounmpo, a deal for Bogdanovic from the Kings was reportedly struck. Instead, however, he signed for the Atlanta Hawks.

Milwaukee are certainly a more serious prospect than Atlanta, but the Hawks are belatedly finding some form with the help of Bogdanovic.

The forward had just two starts for the season until late March but has since been in the lineup for six successive games, including a run of three wins last week that started with his 28-point display against the San Antonio Spurs in which he shot 70.6 per cent from the field.

Gary Trent Jr.

Last week allowed teams around the NBA to get a good look at the players they traded for before the deadline, and the Toronto Raptors could only be pleased with Trent's output.

He averaged 23.3 for the week, albeit the Raptors only won once. Trent had a staggering plus/minus of 54 in that demolition of the Golden State Warriors.

Norm Powell, the man Trent was traded for, tallied 13.7 points across three Portland games, although the Blazers won two of them.
 

GOING COLD...

Victor Oladipo

While Trent has had an instant impact, the same certainly cannot be said for Oladipo.

The two-time All-Star was the Miami Heat's most notable signing as a move for Trent's new Toronto team-mate Kyle Lowry did not materialise, while LaMarcus Aldridge headed for the Brooklyn Nets after agreeing a buy out with the Spurs.

On his third team of 2021, Oladipo was averaging 20.8 points for the season prior to his Heat debut but then tallied a measly total of 14 points across his first two games as a Miami player.

Zach LaVine

Oladipo's is not the only switch yet to prove profitable, with the Chicago Bulls making a big move to bring in Nikola Vucevic to pair fellow All-Star LaVine.

But LaVine, previously scoring 27.9 points in 2020-21, averaged an underwhelming 20.0 last week.

No player in the NBA saw a greater decrease in their made shots from three-point range - 3.5 previously but just 1.3 last week - and LaVine was among three Bulls in the top five in that unwanted table (also Vucevic and Lauri Markkanen).

DeAndre Jordan

Like LaVine, Jordan was not on the move ahead of the deadline. But he was still negatively impacted.

When Aldridge chose Brooklyn over Miami, the Nets center - already struggling to hold off surprise star Nicolas Claxton - saw his opportunities decrease further.

Jordan played in only two of his team's four games last week, appearing for less than 12 minutes in each and averaging 1.5 rebounds down from 7.5 for the season.