Lakers find a way to beat the Pistons in Double OT, moving their win streak to 4 games.
Prior to tonight’s game, the Lakers had not gone to overtime in any of their previous games this season, tonight the Lakers went into two overtimes. The Lakers found a way to finish tonight’s double overtime and beat the Pistons 135–129. With tonight’s victory, the Lakers move their record to 18–6 and move their win streak to 4 games.
The Lakers played an extremely sloppy game against a Detroit team that has the worst record in the NBA and who were coming into tonight’s game without Blake Griffin, Derrick Rose, and Wayne Ellington.
The Lakers were out of sync toward the end of the 4th quarter, with nothing falling as they were held scoreless in the final 4:06. Both the Lakers and the Pistons combined for 42 turnovers tonight, with 20 coming from the Pistons and 22 coming from the Lakers. Both teams had great impacts coming from their bench with Detroit having a game-high 49 bench points and the Lakers had 41, totaling 90 bench points combined on the night.
In tonight’s game, the Lakers had a season-high 72 points in the paint, with their previous season-high being 66 points. The Lakers had 6 players finish in double figures, having scored 10 or more points. The Lakers had 3 players finish with 10 or more points off the bench with the other 3 players coming from the starting lineup.
Lebron James and Anthony Davis combined for 63 total points tonight, topping the previous season-high for the most of the season the all-star pair has scored all season. This is the first time this season both players have scored 30 points.
Tonight Lebron James was up and down, but in both overtimes, Lebron James closed out for this Lakers team with two clutch 3 points to ice the game. In both overtimes, Lebron James had 10 total points on a perfect 4 for 4 (100%) from the field goal.
Lebron James finished tonight with a game-high 33 points, 11 assists, and 5 rebounds in a whopping 46 total minutes tonight. From the field, James finished 13 for 26 (50%) total and 3 for 7 (43%) from the 3 point arc. Lebron James also finished with a game-high 4 steals on the night as the Lakers totaled 12 steals as a team.
Lebron James in the past two games:
Vs. DET: 33 PTS
Vs. DEN: 27 PTS
In the Lakers previous two games, Lebron James has 60 points combined. Showing why in year 18 Lebron James is still just as great and valuable, creating talk in the MVP conversation.
Anthony Davis started tonight’s game with great energy as he looked to take advantage of a Pistons team who were playing without their key player Blake Griffin. In 44 minutes tonight, Anthony Davis finished with 30 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks with a nice +/- of 9. Davis shot, great from the field, finishing 13 for 22 (59%) and 3 for 4 (75%) from the free throw.
Anthony Davis spoke with Mike Trudell after tonight’s win about their performance as a team tonight:
“We hold ourselves to a higher standard defensively, but they made it tough for us. After a win like this in double overtime, we’re just happy to get the win.”
After finishing the last game against the Nuggets with 21 points, Dennis Schroder had another game going over 20 points. Schroder finished tonight’s victory with 22 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 rebounds. In the first 4 quarters, Dennis Schroder was perfect from the 6 for 6 (100%) from the field. He finished shooting 7 for 9 (78%) from the field and a perfect 8 for 8 (100%) from the free-throw line.
Dennis Schroder in the last 3 games:
Vs. DET: 22 PTS
Vs. DEN: 21 PTS
Vs. ATL: 16 PTS
Dennis Schroder has had a great stretch in the previous 3 games for this Lakers squad.
With the Lakers bench finishing with 41 total points, they had 3 players finish with 10 or more points. The Laker bench had another energetic night creating a spark.
Alex Caruso had 10 points and 3 rebounds tonight, while also giving this team a great impact on defense with 2 steals.
Talen Horton-Tucker had another great impactful night, providing the Lakers with 10 points, 4 assists, and 2 rebounds in 21 minutes. With tonight’s 10 point performance, Talen Horton-Tucker now has had double figures in the scoring column on back to back games for the first time this season.
Kyle Kuzma has been one of the most consistent sparks off the bench for this Lakers team as of late and he had another night of just that. In 24 minutes off the bench, Kyle Kuzma had 14 points and 6 rebounds on 5 of 10 (50%) shooting from the field and going 3 for 5 (60%) from the perimeter.
The Lakers now move into 2nd place in the Western Conference with an 18–6 record behind the 18–5 Utah Jazz.
The Lakers are now on a 4 game win streak and look to keep their streak alive against the 10–12 Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday. The Oklahoma City Thunder’s are coming off a win today against the Minnesota Timberwolves and look to come out upsetting the defending champion Lakers team.