The Los Angeles Lakers have been excellent this season on their home floor. They went into their matchup against the Detroit Pistons on Monday night having won nine of 12 at home this season. And while LeBron James had himself a strong night — a 28-point triple-double — the Lakers were simply outworked en route to a 117-114 loss.
The Pistons were the more physical team from the jump, making the Lakers work extremely hard for each bucket. The rebounding battle was even, with L.A. winning that 38-37, but the Pistons dominated the paint (64-40), fastbreak points (24-11) and points off of turnovers (28-9). Those three figures right there made up the game.
The Lakers have, at times, been able to hang tough with some of the league’s grittier teams. But getting outworked has also been a common thing for L.A. this season. LeBron spoke about that and what the team can do to curb that issue.
“Just got to match physicality with physicality,” James said. “I can’t speak for nobody but myself when it comes to that. I’m a football player, so I don’t mind physicality, to be honest. As a team, we got to be better, be stronger. That’s all.”
Being more physical is not something that can necessarily show up on a stat sheet, but it’s something the Lakers need to accomplish. LeBron spoke about little ways the Lakers can improve in that department, but admitted that it’s just a mentality thing at the end of the day.
“We gotta do as a team,” James added. “You gotta help guys get open when guys are pressuring the ball. You gotta help screen better. You gotta screen better. You gotta use a triple threat. … This is not something that you can learn, though. You don’t learn how to be more physical.”
The Pistons are known to outwork their opponents and make life difficult for any team they’re playing. It’s what has made them among the more intriguing Pistons teams of what has been a rough era for the franchise. But they are already one win away from matching their entire 2023-24 win total, and that is on the back of their physicality.
The Lakers don’t have that type of reputation this season, but LeBron knows that it’s a necessity if they want to win tough games like this one.
JJ Redick upset with Lakers’ turnovers
Turnovers once again reared their head as an issue for the Lakers against the Pistons. They turned the ball over 20 times to lead to 28 Pistons points. The Pistons only conceded the ball 12 times, leading to nine Lakers points.
So when reflecting on the loss, JJ Redick was particularly disappointed by the turnovers, especially when the Pistons ran the exact type of defense the Lakers were anticipating.
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