The Los Angeles Lakers returned to the court on Friday night, hosting the Detroit Pistons after a four-day break from action.
Both teams were missing some key players as LeBron James missed his third straight game with an adductor strain while Cade Cunningham and Isaiah Stewart were out for Detroit.
Ultimately though, the veteran Lakers were able to win out with a 128-121 victory to improve to 4-10 on the year.
The Pistons struggled to keep the Lakers off the foul line early as L.A. was already in the bonus two minutes in. Marvin Bagley picked up two quick fouls trying to guard Anthony Davis, although that actually worked out ok as Jalen Duren came in and scored four quick points.
Austin Reaves, getting the start for James, went on a run from there with five straight points and a charge to give the Lakers an early 12-8 lead.
Russell Westbrook came in and immediately brought energy for the Lakers off the bench with four quick points and an assist. However, the Pistons answered back with a 14-3 run and eventually led 37-30 after one quarter.
After recovering from their respective thumb injuries, Dennis Schroder and Thomas Bryant both made their Lakers season debuts off the bench. They looked a bit rusty and the young Pistons group go going in transition, working their lead to double digits for the first time early in the second.
Bryant was then able to get going a little offensively though, providing the Lakers with an inside force they haven’t had this season outside of Davis.
After falling down by as many as 14, the Lakers seemed to flip a switch on both sides of the floor and they took the lead back late in the second quarter. Kendrick Nunn finally got some shots to fall while Wenyen Gabriel provided his usual energy to spark the run.
Lonnie Walker IV drilled two 3-pointers late in the quarter, including a buzzer-beater, to give the Lakers a 68-64 halftime lead.
Davis came out in the third quarter extremely aggressive, although that went a little too far when he was whistled for a rare technical foul after complaining about an offensive foul call. Patrick Beverley then picked up his own technical minutes later. Outside of that go, the Lakers were rolling offensively as Austin Reaves and Beverley each knocked down 3s to work the lead to six.
Every time it looked like the Lakers were starting to pull away though, the young Pistons answered back as L.A.’s lead was just 96-95 going into the fourth.
Reaves continued to make his case to be a permanent fixture in the starting lineup with back-to-back crafty buckets in the fourth quarter to extend the lead to seven, forcing a Pistons timeout.
Detroit was saved by a five-point possession after a flagrant 1 call on Bryant, keeping things close late. Eventually though, Davis led a run to help the Lakers pull away and close out the victory.
Davis finished with 38 points to go along with 16 rebounds, two assists, four blocks and a steal.
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