The Lakers carried their poor second half against the Raptors on Friday into Detroit on Monday. The result was the most frustrating loss of the season as the Lakers fell behind big early and never got back into the contest, losing 115-103.
Anthony Davis scored 37 points to go with his nine rebounds and four assists. LeBron James ended with 20 points, eight rebounds, and 11 assists. D’Angelo Russell pitched in with 11 points and eight assists. Austin Reaves ended with 17 points, four assists and four rebounds.
The bench was atrocious, scoring a disappointing 10 points. Jaxson Hayes and Dalton Knecht each had five points. While he didn’t score, Cam Reddish provided impactful minutes defensively in his first action of the season, playing 14 minutes and replacing Max Christie in the rotation.
AD started aggressively, converting on a free throw and then a layup. Both teams began trading baskets and the lead. Six minutes into the quarter, they were shooting 33% from the field and the Pistons took advantage of that to jump ahead by eight.
After Detroit’s offense slowed, LA started running the ball in transition. The Lakers cut the deficit to two.
However, the Pistons started converting their shots again. Jaden Ivey was converting layups and he dished a dime to Isaiah Stewart for an alley-oop layup that got the crowd rocking,
At the end of the first, the Lakers were down 11.
The Pistons were still cooking to start the second. LA looked unserious and struggled more than they should against a team like the Pistons. Detroit was scoring easily with many of their points coming in transition and their lead ballooned to 13 as the Lakers continued to look lackadaisical.
LA had zero defensive presence in the paint while AD sat and the Pistons scored easily. Unfortunately, even with AD back in, Detroit converted on anything they wanted. The Pistons had all the momentum in their favor, going up by 17.
Los Angeles’ disaster first half ended with a three by LeBron. At halftime, they were down 14.
The second half started with an offensive foul, leading to another turnover for LA. The Lakers still had zero energy and hustle, while the Pistons looked like they wanted it more. A midrange shot by AD and a 3-pointer from Austin gave the team the mildest ounce of life.
With the third period winding down, the Lakers cut the deficit to 11 on a 7-0 run. D’Lo and Austin finally reached double digits in scoring as everyone else was having a rough go. The Lakers finally found some fight, while the Pistons missed their shots.
At the end of the quarter, LA closed to within six with much better defense and shot-making.
The Pistons struck first to start the final frame. LA cut the deficit to eight as they kept clawing their way back into the game. The three-ball was rough for the Lakers, missing a few that would’ve helped them get even closer.
No matter how close Los Angeles seemed to get it, Detroit had the answer and with 6:53 left, they were up nine. With 3:19 left, the Lakers were trailing by eight. Despite visible discomfort with his ankle, AD remained in down the stretch.
LeBron knocked down two free throws to make it a six-point game. But Ivey put the final nail in the coffin with a 3-pointer and a layup. The Pistons then added even more insult to injury with a few more layups to close out the contest.
Key Takeaways:
The lack of care that the team showed throughout 97% of this game was terrible. You cannot let a young hungry team like the Pistons outwork you all game long.
Will we ever get good games from Max Christie and Gabe Vincent? What’s going on? Why can’t show up offensively, at the very least?
After several great starts, Rui took a dip in production. Hopefully, it’s just a small slump that’ll get better sooner rather than later.
The Lakers’ next game is Wednesday against the Memphis Grizzlies at 5:00 PM PT.
You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.
