The Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers played out another thrilling encounter in a battle of two of the most exciting young teams in the NBA on Thursday night.
After an enthralling contest at Staples Center last month, where the Sixers came out on top thanks to a monster display by Joel Embiid, the two teams met for the final time in the regular season in Philly.
On this occasion, it was the Purple and Gold who got the win as they split the series in dramatic fashion at Wells Fargo Center.
With the score tied in the final stages, Brandon Ingram nailed a go-ahead three-pointer with just 0.8 seconds remaining to give the Lakers a 107-104 victory.
It capped off an impressive performance by the 20-year-old who finished the game with a team-high 21 points, to go along with seven rebounds and six assists.
Despite missing a potential game-winning shot against the Golden State Warriors last week, Ingram was not afraid to step up in the moment again and this time made no mistake as he came up clutch to snap their five-game losing streak.
The small forward called it the biggest shot of his young NBA career. "I had the confidence to shoot it," he said.
Following his performance, 76ers head coach Brett Brown reaffirmed a comparison many have thrown in the youngster's direction since he entered the league last year.
"He has a game that reminds me of a young [Kevin] Durant," he said.
It's extremely high praise from Brown and it shows that he sees a lot of promise in the lengthy Lakers sophomore.
The comparison with KD stems from their similar frames but Ingram is making people take note of his talents and is showing that he is slowly starting to resemble the Golden State Warriors in other ways too.
Durant has taken on a role as a mentor to the Duke product and recently revealed how he constantly texts him with words of encouragement.
The former number two overall pick certainly has a bright future ahead of him and has made a huge leap already in just his second year in the NBA.
He has shown improvements in his shooting and has found ways to use his size and athleticism to finish inside.
This huge play to seal the win in Philadelphia just shows the growing confidence he has and being compared to one of the best players in the league shows that others are recognizing that.
“He’s really taken some nice steps forward the last week or two as far as just his overall presence and his overall leadership on the practice court, the game court,” head coach Luke Walton said post-game.
Los Angeles kicked off its east coast road trip in style and now prepare to take on the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday night.