The Los Angeles Lakers saw their three-game win streak come to an end at the hands of the Detroit Pistons on Monday night. Head coach JJ Redick has continued to tinker with his rotation and with both of his backup big men still out due to injury, the Lakers have recently turned to small-ball lineups featuring Rui Hachimura at center.
It worked well in the team’s win over the Sacramento Kings, but the results weren’t the same against the Pistons. The Lakers struggled to keep Detroit off the offensive glass allowing 10 offensive rebounds, but more importantly the Lakers could not take care of the ball which is what Redick pointed to when discussing how that lineup fared.
“Not well because we turned the ball over,” Redick said after the loss. “But we liked what we saw with Rui [Hachimura] at the five in Sacramento and wanted to give it a look tonight.”
If something is working well it makes sense to try it again and that is what Redick and the Lakers did, but unfortunately they played right into the hands of what the Pistons do best. Those turnovers led to 28 Pistons points and Detroit also had 24 fastbreak points.
In the nine minutes that Anthony Davis was off the floor and the Lakers went small, the team was outscored by 18 points.
Turnovers have been one of the biggest barometers for the Lakers all season long. They actually rank in the top-10 for fewest turnovers per game and when they take care of the ball they are a much more formidable team. But there is just so little room for error that when the Lakers start giving the ball away it’s nearly impossible to overcome.
Injuries have forced Redick’s hand in going with the small-ball lineup and having Hachimura as the center. It can work if the Lakers do the little things, but that didn’t happen against the Pistons and L.A. took a loss because of it.
It will be interesting to see if Christian Koloko gets another chance in the rotation to give the Lakers some size or if they keep going small until Jaxson Hayes is able to return.
JJ Redick unhappy with Lakers’ turnovers in loss to Pistons
The Lakers’ turnovers were the theme following the loss to the Pistons and JJ Redick wasn’t happy with his team’s struggles mainly because the Pistons’ aggressive defense was expected.
“Yeah, I mean, we knew ahead of time that they were going to shock or blitz at times,” Redick said. “So, I’m not sure why we were so surprised by that. Then a number of them were playing in tight spaces, and a number of them were just dribbling the ball off a foot. Dribbling the ball out of bounds, passing to Malik Beasley so he can make a three. They capitalized every time we made a mistake.”
