The Los Angeles Lakers’ nine-game winning unfortunately came to an end after their comeback attempt fell short against the Detroit Pistons.
Los Angeles battled back from a 16-point deficit to take the lead late in the game, but the Pistons were able to hold them in the closing seconds to earn the win. Despite the winning streak coming to an end, head coach JJ Redick came away impressed with his team and confident that they can compete with anyone moving forward.
“That we’re a good basketball team,” Redick said of his takeaways on Spectrum SportNet. “I believe that we’re a good basketball team. I thought we could be a good basketball team the entire season, we saw flashes of it, short stretches of it. But I knew we were a good basketball team and I think we have to continue to play together and all that stuff. It is remarkable to me, and this is not making an excuse, but our winning streak has also coincided with us being healthy. I rewatched the first Detroit game, and it’s like this guy’s out, that guy’s out, this guy’s out. Tonight, Smart and Rui were out. Not having Smart tonight killed us. That’s important for us, that we can get healthy and we can play our rotation. Post-Luke trade, I think when all nine guys have played, we’ve been a good basketball team. I think Vando did a great job tonight when he had his minutes, he was ready to play.
“But the way our team works, you need Smart for his ball-handling, you need Smart for his defense, you need Rui for his shooting. Those pieces are important to complement everybody. We need to finish the season strong, but we need to finish the season healthy.”
As Redick noted, when Los Angeles has everyone available they are a formidable team. Luka Doncic is playing at an MVP level, while Austin Reaves and LeBron James have filled in perfectly behind him. Even the rest of the roster is settled into their roles and performing on both ends of the floor every night.
A loss to the Pistons shouldn’t sour what the Lakers accomplished the past couple of weeks, and fortunately they get a good opportunity to bounce back when they face the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.
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