Looking to build off their win over the Sacramento Kings, the Los Angeles Lakers closed out the calendar year by hosting the Detroit Pistons, the team with the best record in the Eastern Conference.
The Pistons are the exact type of young and athletic team that the Lakers have struggled with, and that continued in this one as L.A. suffered a 128-106 loss to drop to 20-11.
LeBron James was celebrating his 41st birthday and did so by kicking off the game with two assists to Deandre Ayton and Jake LaRavia, who started in place of the injured Rui Hachimura. James then finished a reverse layup in transition to give the Lakers an early lead.
Marcus Smart took an elbow to the face but was called for a foul, leading to him picking up a technical for arguing with the officials. From there though, Luka Doncic got going offensively with a three-point play and a triple.
Cade Cunningham also got off to a strong start, controlling the offense for Detroit, who led 36-30 at the end of the first.
Cunningham had back-to-back buckets to begin the second with the Pistons taking a double-digit lead for the first time. The Lakers were in a long offensive drought, which James ended with a triple.
Detroit was pounding the L.A. inside as they had no resistance defensively in the paint. LaRavia took a big elbow to the face though as Jalen Duran was called for a Flagrant 1 on his drive. The Lakers forward was able to stay in the game and make both free throws despite the shot to the head.
The Lakers continued to struggle defensively to end the half, but James and Doncic were able to keep up on the other end to head into the locker room with a 70-65 deficit.
L.A. has typically struggled against athletic teams to begin third quarters, but they came out strong in this one and tied the game after a three-point play by Doncic.
Doncic was later called for a technical foul for flailing his arms, even though there was a foul called on the Pistons on the play. That gave Detroit some momentum as they closed the third quarter strong to take a 96-88 lead into the fourth.
The Lakers had a couple silly turnovers early in the fourth as the Pistons took a double-digit lead once again.
Offensively, L.A. couldn’t get anything going as Detroit ramped up the ball pressure. The Lakers continued turning it over as their deficit grew larger and larger to the point where it was too much to overcome.
What’s next for the Lakers…
The Lakers will stay at home to kick off 2026, hosting the Memphis Grizzles in back-to-back games on Friday and Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.
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