Luka Doncic #77 of the Los Angeles Lakers
Getty
Luka Doncic #77 of the Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers took their nine-game winning streak to Detroit with a fair amount of optimism. The team had withstood a scare against the Magic on Saturday night, pulling out a one-point win on a last-second 3-point shot from forward Luke Kennard. That game masked the fact that star forward Luka Doncic, who had been other-worldly in the first eight games of the streak, had struggled against the Magic.
Doncic had gone 12-for-30 on that night, scoring 33 points but doing so with such inefficiency that it nearly cost L.A. the game. As he put it, “I think I played terrible with the team, I didn’t play good.”
On Monday, despite a solid comeback led by the Lakers’ second-half defense, L.A. could not overcome a second straight poor shooting performance from Doncic, as he went 11-for-29 (38%) from the field and 3-for-13 from the 3-point line to finish with 32 points. The rest of the Lakers shot 54% on the night, but Doncic took more than a third of the team’s shots, including a last-second game-tying attempt that missed off of a broken play, giving the Pistons a 113-110 win.
Luka Doncic Outdone by G-League Vet as Lakers Winning Streak Ends at 9
Thus ends the Lakers’ winning streak, their best string of games since about a year ago, when they began playing well in mid-January, made the trade with the Mavericks for Doncic and went on a 20-4 run that included an eight-game winning burst.
The Pistons entered the game with the best record in the Eastern Conference, and as of a week ago, they would have been favored to beat L.A. But Pistons star Cade Cunningham suffered a collapsed lung, and it was expected that the Lakers would win this one. Instead, Detroit got 30 points and eight assists from former G Leaguer Daniss Jenkins in Cunningham’s place.
Defense Nearly Made up for Luka Doncic Struggles
While the disappointing showing from Doncic is the headline, there were some good things to be gleaned from this game, however disappointing the result is for the Lakers. For one thing, the Lakers were getting knocked around at halftime, trailing 65-52 as the Pistons put up a 42-point second half.
L.A. tightened up defensively, though, and held the Pistons to 48 total points in the second half. “We did a good job of defending, we did a good job of just staying with it. And we got back in the game,” coach JJ Redick said.
Redick was also happy that the Lakers did not “break” and mail in the game against Detroit, even as the defensive effort slipped in the second quarter.
“I didn’t feel like we were going to break — especially on the road when you’re going on a run, and you’re not scoring — that can kind of be detrimental to the overall, sort of, not effort, nor vibe but the mood. It can feel defeating. And we never gave into that,” he said.
GettyLakers head coach JJ Redick
Lakers Get Good Showing From LeBron James
And finally, there was the play of Lakers LeBron James, who is in a bit of a no-win situation. He was very much a distributor and rebounder in the first half, allowing Doncic and Austin Reaves to carry the offensive load. But he took swipes for finishing the first half scoreless.
James wound up with 12 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists.
“I feel like he played a really unselfish game. Ended up with 10 assists. He did good job in not just try to score, but make the right play like he always does. And he gets 10 assists,” Redick said.