Lakers struggle offensively in sloppy loss to the Pistons, losing back-to-back games for the first time this season.
For the first time this season the Lakers have lost back-to-back games with tonight’s sloppy loss to the Detroit Pistons. The Lakers came into Detroit trying to redeem themselves after a 1 point loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. The Pistons took advantage of a sluggish Lakers team without Anthony Davis, winning 107 to 92 to give the Lakers their 6th loss of the season.
For the first time this season, resulting in a loss the Lakers were kept under 100 points scoring. The Lakers had no answer stopping multiple Pistons from scoring, as 5 players on the Pistons finished in double figures. 4 of the 5 Pistons starters finished in double figures, those players were Wayne Ellington (20 points), Jerami Grant (14 points), Mason Plumlee (17 points) and Blake Griffin (23 points). Wayne Ellington and Blake Griffin combined for 11 total threes, which is not a recipe for success for this Lakers squad.
The Lakers were held to shoot 40% (36–88) total from the field tonight in an extremely sloppy loss to the Pistons. The Lakers only had 34 points in the entire 2nd half of tonight’s ballgame. The Lakers had a disastrous 4th quarter only scoring 4 points in the final 8 minutes of the game. At one point with the starting group, the Lakers went almost 7 minutes without scoring. The Detroit Pistons outscored the Lakers 25 to 14 in the 4th quarter of tonight’s loss.
Head coach Frank Vogel spoke of tonight’s loss to the media after the game:
“We just didn’t have a great rhythm in that 2nd half. We have been good on the road, but tonight was not our night. We’ll be fine. You have nights like this in a long season. None of us are happy but we’ll bounce back.”
In tonight’s sloppy loss Lebron James finished with a tied Lakers high 22 points on 8 of 19 (42%) from the field and 4 for 8 (50%) shooting from the arc. To go along with his 22 points, James had a game, 10 assists and 7 rebounds in 35 minutes tonight. In the last 3 games, Lebron James is averaging 34.0 points, 7.3 assists, 54% from 3 and 58% total from the field goal.
The Lakers came into tonight’s game without Anthony Davis as he was resting from a right quad injury. Detroit native Kyle Kuzma took his place in tonight’s starting lineup and had an energetic performance. Kyle Kuzma had his season high 22 points in tonight’s loss to the Pistons. Kuzma also had a game high 10 rebounds to go along with his 22 point surge tonight in 29 minutes of action in the starting lineup for Anthony Davis.
The Lakers have to find a way to find more production from their bench. Talen Horton-Tucker could be that answer. In limited minutes tonight Talen Horton-Tucker scored 13 points and shot 3 for 3 from the perimeter in 14 minutes of playing time. Even with limited minutes Horton-Tucker finds ways to be productive as now head coach Vogel has some decisions to make moving forward to see who brings more production for future games. Talen Horton-Tucker puts tonight’s loss into short, simple words stating:
“shots weren’t falling”
With tonight’s loss the Lakers now drop to 3rd place in the Western Conference with a 14–6 record. The Lakers are currently behind the 1st place 14–4 Utah Jazz and 2nd place 14–5 Los Angeles Clippers.
The Lakers now travel to Boston for their 6th straight game on the road to face the historic rival Celtics on Saturday who are currently 5 in the Eastern Conference with a 10–7 record. The Celtics are coming off a loss to the San Antonio Spurs and look to redeem themselves and beat the rival Lakers. The Lakers have to bounce back from their current back-to-back losses and take care of business against a very good young Celtics team. Lebron James spoke on the upcoming matchup against the rivalry Boston Celtics:
“It’s pretty cool to be part of the Lakers/Celtics rivalry. It won’t feel the same on Saturday. It won’t have a rivalry feel without fans in the stands.”