Mark the calendar: It was nine days of a seven-game trip before the defending champions Los Angeles Lakers showed any sign of vulnerability this season, on Thursday’s 107-92 loss to the Detroit Pistons.
LA had just 34 points in the second half – the lowest number the Lakers have scored in any time since LeBron James joined the franchise in 2018 – and was defeated by 25-14 in the fourth period by a Pistons team that came in for the night with the second worst record in the league with 4-14.
The Lakers went goalless for almost seven minutes – from the 8:40 mark in the fourth period to 1:50 on the clock – while the Pistons’ lead increased from 1 to 17. LA went 0 to 12 with two turns when Detroit took control.
“I think we were not defensively connected to the level we should be at,” said Kyle Kuzma, whose 22 points and 10 rebounds were hampered by the Lakers’ final collapse. “Individually, everyone made mistakes and collectively made the defense of the team suffer a little.”
The team’s defense, who ranked first in the NBA on Thursday, played without Anthony Davis, last season’s runner-up, defensive player of the year, who was out with a right thigh injury.
Whatever the explanation for the poor display, whether it was Davis’s absence, the accumulation of road fatigue or the challenge of a back-to-back, James didn’t want to hear.
“I mean, we still have games to play, work to do,” he said. “We need to continue to improve, and you cannot really understand how many days you are on the road or whatever the case may be. Each team does this. Each team takes a long journey. We are professionals.
“We have to keep our minds fresh, keep our bodies fresh as much as we can to go out there and put together a full 48-minute game, or close to 48 minutes. Obviously, we haven’t done that in the last few games, and we need to improve on Saturday.”
Coach Frank Vogel challenged last year’s Lakers team not to lose consecutive games throughout the season, and that has remained a part of the team’s culture this year. LA spent more than a quarter of the season before failing the mission, losing to Detroit one night after falling into Philadelphia.
Consecutive defeats also undermined the Lakers’ perfect 10-0 record at the start of the season, which had set a franchise record. They are now 10-2, with games in Boston on Saturday and Atlanta on Monday to end the trip.
While no one sounded the alarm, Kuzma and James lamented how the Lakers are still trying to find a set rotation and, for lack of practice time, end up experimenting with new lineups in the games.
“We are an entirely new team,” said Kuzma. “We are playing as 14 people. It is a difficult situation. Obviously, we are working on things. The coaching staff is trying to figure out the spins and find out what works best with what is best, which players can play in certain lineups. And that is just the point of the season we’re in. “
Kuzma provided a 10,000-foot perspective, saying that defeats – even bad ones like Thursday’s – are “just the beauty of the journey” and that the regular season should be a rehearsal to solve problems before the playoffs, anyway . And, as the Lakers’ journey spans over a week and a half, he recognized the real challenge of traveling constantly. “It is still a pandemic here,” he said.
Vogel put the performance on himself, saying that he has to do a better job of putting his players in a position to succeed, but ultimately he marked the night as something that will not upset his team.
“We’ll be fine,” said Vogel. “You have nights like this in a long season. We will be fine. We will recover. Not happy, none of us are happy with the way we played tonight, but we will recover.”