Well, the Lakers better hope the Detroit Pistons don’t change their season and make it to the NBA finals. This may seem like a hyperbolic statement about a team with the worst NBA record, but after the Lakers barely managed a 135-129 victory against a Pistons team, without Derrick Rose and Blake Griffin on the second night of a back-to- back on Saturday – after losing to them a week ago – the purples and golds have to be happy that this is the last time they will see Detroit this year.
As it was the last time they lost – coincidentally, also against those same Pistons – the Lakers’ problems here were mostly self-inflicted. The player gave the ball 22 times – LeBron James was 7 alone – and it often looked like he had challenged himself to see how many turns he could commit and still win. Their defense was also rather sloppy, with the perimeter players leaving the Pistons snipers wide open to keep the game playing much longer than it should have, considering both teams’ pedigree and roster.
But credit to Detroit: they just kept fighting, winning the battle for the 50/50 balls to keep their belongings alive and stay in a game where they were outperformed from a talent perspective. For a good part of the night, it looked like the Lakers could have another irritating disappointment if they weren’t careful. These fears seemed to materialize when the Lakers scored 0 points in the final four minutes of regulation, when Josh Jackson (28 points) exploded in the final stretch to send this game into overtime after James missed the bell.
And given that Davis was out last time and that he started the night by hitting his first six shots, it would be tempting to say that he was the difference in this. But while he finished with 30 points and certainly helped in the win, Davis was just as guilty as everyone else on the team for somehow looking like they were out of gas, despite having free last night while the Pistons played on Friday market. In fact, it was Alex Caruso (10 points) who gave the Lakers a spark in the first overtime, with his quick barrage of buckets and defensive intensity giving the Lakers the spark they needed to stay there after a slow start to the extra period.
After a few huge plays by James and Davis in the stretch of two overtime – including a few giant LeBron trios to give the Lakers a four and seven point lead, respectively, and Davis recovering to force a crucial mistake from our old friend Svi Mykhailiuk – The Lakers finally put the Pistons aside about an hour later than they should have.
James ended the game with 33 points, 11 assists, 5 rebounds and 4 steals. Even on a night that you would say is “meh” if you watch it, it is still unbelievable.
And so, despite their best efforts to lose, the Lakers will come out of this with a record of 18-6 and four consecutive wins. They will have Sunday off to enjoy the Super Bowl before resuming their game against Oklahoma City on Monday, while their home continues. Maybe they’ll even take Thunder seriously after almost blowing it up.
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