The Lakers got superstar performances from LeBron and AD and a big shot down the stretch from Austin Reaves to hold off the Pistons 124-117, snapping their three-game losing streak and getting back to 3-3 in the final game of their road trip.
After a rough shooting game against the 76ers on Friday, LeBron bounced back with a wonderful scoring performance in Detroit, tallying 35 points on 14-24 shooting from the field and 5-5 from the free throw line. Mixing in power drives with fadeaway and pull up jumpers, LeBron was able to get buckets from all over the court, leaving the Pistons looking for answers as he expertly offered counters to whatever defensive approach thrown at him.
LeBron was especially on point in the 2nd quarter where his 6-7 shooting for 14 points carried the Lakers and allowed his team to double their lead from the end of the 1st quarter up to 12 at intermission.
The Pistons were determined to not go quietly into the night, however, and got back into the game with a huge 3rd quarter push when they outscored the Lakers by 11 in the period. Bojan Bogdanovic was particularly potent in the quarter, scoring 25 of his game high 38 in the period, hitting seven of his nine shots from the floor, including five of six from behind the arc in the quarter.
Bogdanovic came off pin-down screens for catch and shoot jumpers over smaller Lakers defenders, using his lightning quick release to get shots off even when the defense stayed connected.
The Pistons would have turned the game all the way around and had a lead going into the 4th if not for Anthony Davis nearly keeping pace with Bogdanovic in that 3rd period. AD scored 17 of his 34 points in the quarter, going 7-10 from the field while making all three of his foul shots.
AD was superb all night (he had a game high 15 rebounds and dished out seven assists), but he was especially forceful coming out of halftime where he was dominant in paint by attacking a Pistons' front line that didn't have a lot of answers for him.
In the final frame, though, the Lakers were able to keep the Pistons at arm's distance and hold them off the entire quarter. Coach Ham changed up his rotation to start the period, keeping both LeBron and AD in the game and letting them attack Detroit's defense.
And while both did good work in the period, it was LeBron who carried the team home, playing the entire quarter and scoring 13 points while grabbing two rebounds and dishing two assists, controlling the action the entire way.
In fact, it was one of those dimes that sealed the game when, with under 20 seconds left in the game, the Lakers only up by two points, and coming up against the shot clock, LeBron drove into the paint to collapse the defense, and then dished the ball to Austin Reaves who calmly knocked down the dagger three.
The Lakers also got strong contributions from Lonnie Walker, who scored 18 points on 7-10 shooting, including 4-6 from deep and Russell Westbrook who had 11 points and a team high 9 assists. Dennis Schröder and Patrick Beverley also played inspired defense over the course of the game, with Dennis showing dogged determination in the 4th quarter to stay close to Bogdanovic to ensure he didn't keep his hot shooting going.
All in all, then, it was a good and much needed team victory for the Lakers to close out their long road trip. They'll head back home and will return to action on Tuesday when the Boston Celtics visit Los Angeles for their lone game at Crypto.com Arena this regular season.