The Los Angeles Lakers went into Monday night’s game riding a nine-game winning streak, looking to extend it to 10 for the first time this season.
The Lakers faced a tough test as Marcus Smart and Rui Hachimura were both ruled out, although the Detroit Pistons were without their superstar in Cade Cunningham as well. Even without Cunningham, the Pistons are a solid team, and they proved that with a 113-110 win to snap the Lakers’ winning streak.
Luka Doncic, was was just named Western Conference Player of the Week for the second straight time, continued his recent hot streak with the first five points for the Lakers. Outside of that though, it was an ugly start offensively for both teams.
LeBron James appeared to jam his finger and went to the bench, although he appeared to be OK. In his absence, Doncic continued to be the only one mustering any sort of offense as he had 17 points in the first quarter and the Lakers led 27-23. The Pistons beat the buzzer with a triple to keep their deficit manageable.
James returned to begin the second, but the Lakers’ continued to struggle offensively. They were locked in on the other end, however, as Jaxson Hayes made some nice defensive plays at the rim.
After a Flagrant 1 foul by Deandre Ayton, the Pistons took the lead after a five-point possession. Their physicality and ball pressure was clearly giving L.A. some issues.
Daniss Jenkins and Duncan Robinson caught first with back-to-back triples each to end the first half, giving the Pistons a 65-52 lead.
Robinson had two more triples to open up the third quarter, but the Lakers started chipping away from there as Austin Reaves got going after a quiet first half. James got in on the action after a scoreless first half as he and Reaves hit back-to-back 3s and then a layup made it a six-point game.
It continued to be all Lakers to end the third quarter as Doncic ripped off five quick points to tie the game before a Pistons layup gave them an 89-87 lead going into the fourth.
The Lakers couldn’t stop turning the ball over early in the final quarter, allowing Detroit to go back up by six until James got fouled on a 3-point attempt.
Whenever the Pistons needed a bucket though, Jenkins was there to get it to keep his team ahead. L.A. kept fighting and when Luke Kennard was fouled on a triple, they came all the way back to tie it with a little over two minutes to play.
Kennard had a good look to give the Lakers the lead, but it went in and out. After a big stop defensively though, they had another chance and Kennard found Ayton, who got fouled.
Ayton made a pair of free throws to put the Lakers up one, and then Jenkins had a chance to do the same on the other end and did exactly that.
After a timeout, Reaves put the Lakers back in front with a tough floater in the lane. Again though, Jenkins responded with a bucket of his own.
Doncic had a great look in the final seconds, but he missed and the Pistons then went up three with a pair of free throws. Doncic had one last chance, but Detroit defended him well to close out the win.
What’s next for the Lakers…
The Lakers’ schedule gets much easier moving forward as they will wrap up their road trip against the Indiana Pacers before returning home and hosting the Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards.
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