LOS ANGELES – The feel-good vibes after the Los Angeles Lakers’ win against the Sacramento Kings earlier this week were washed away following the team’s ugly 128-106 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday. A big issue during the Lakers’ loss to the Pistons was turnovers, with Luka Doncic committing eight of the team’s 20 turnovers.
Following the game, Luka Doncic took responsibility for the Lakers’ turnover woes.
“Too many from me,” Doncic said after the game, “Too many turnovers. We got to stop losing the ball.”
The Lakers had the game tied at 79 with 5:47 left to go in the third quarter, and trailed by only eight heading into the fourth quarter. But they were outscored 17-7 over the first six minutes of the final period, essentially ending the game at that point.
During that early stretch of the fourth quarter, the Lakers committed five turnovers with Doncic and James having two each. Three of those four turnovers from the Lakers’ star duo were from bad passes. Overall, the Lakers coughed the ball up 20 times with the Pistons scoring 30 points off those turnovers.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick acknowledged that some of it might have to do with the way the Pistons play.
Article Continues Below
“The offensive stretch that we had there in the third, start of the fourth. . .five turnovers in that stretch. The turnovers, fastbreak points, points in the paint, that just killed us,” Redick said. “They’re a really good, physical basketball team. It’s part of their DNA.
While the Pistons have seemingly found their identity within the first couple of months of the regular season, the Lakers are still searching for theirs. Redick acknowledged that last season the Lakers didn’t really find that identity until January, and then had re-find it again after the Doncic trade.
“Still trying to figure that out. And I know that’s maybe a cop-out, probably is, but I do know that we have had a lot of stops and starts. . .we’ve really tried to play the right way every night and have the right intent,” Redick said. “The flow of the lineups and rotations and all that has been challenging for everybody, not just the coaches. It’s just a challenge for the players, and building an identity is difficult.”
“We didn’t get that identity until late January it felt like, then we had to shift again. So I don’t think it’s unnatural,” Redick said. “I think that it’s hard to figure out with this team right now.”