LOS ANGELES — The Lakers have shown that they’ll collectively raise their quality of play when matched up against the best in the NBA – even if the result doesn’t end up in their favor.
An issue that’s plagued them is not bringing that same level of intensity and focus when matched up against some of the bottom dwellers, such as the league-worst Detroit Pistons, who they were matched up against Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
And with the All-Star break right around the corner, it’s common for some teams to take their foot off the gas before a week-long break in play.
But the Lakers (29-26), knowing how important this stretch before the break is and how tight the play-in tournament/playoff race appears it will be, for the most part, didn’t fall victim to the pre-break malaise, beating the Pistons, 125-111, in a result that was never in doubt.
“We got to go handle business and with the spot that we’re in right now you know we can’t afford to go take a game off and drop one,” Lakers guard Austin Reaves said. “We really need to get these two before the All-Star break to kind of give us a little bit of momentum going into that and coming back from All-Star break. We’ve got to have the same intensity.”
Just one game after all five Lakers starters scored at least 20 points for the first time in 40 years, they once again benefitted from well-rounded play.
LeBron James (25 points, eight assists) and Anthony Davis (20 points, 14 rebounds, six blocked shots, four assists) led the way as the Lakers won for the fifth time in their past six games and the 10th time in their last 15 to move three games over .500 for the first time since a week before Christmas.
All five starters scored in double figures, with D’Angelo Russell (21 points), Rui Hachimura (15 points, five rebounds) and Reaves (15 points, seven rebounds, six assists) all eclipsing the 10-point threshold in another dominant offensive showing (32 assists) by the new starting lineup.
Spencer Dinwiddie, the former Taft High star and 10-year veteran guard who the Lakers signed on Saturday as a free agent, made his Lakers debut, contributing six points and seven assists in 30 minutes off the bench.
He scored his first points on an and-1 layup in the third quarter to give his new team a 92-75 lead before hitting a stepback 3-pointer a few possessions later to extend their advantage to 97-79.
Christian Wood added 11 points and four rebounds in 13 minutes off the bench.
The Lakers had a rare three-day break between games before this game, and they rolled to an early 24-point lead.. One game after they scored 87 points in the second-highest scoring first half in franchise history, they dropped 71 on the Pistons and took a 71-48 halftime lead behind Davis’ 18 points and 12 boards. Given that it was the first night of a back-to-back set, the All-Star big man only played 28 minutes and didn’t return to the court after subbing out with 3:24 left in the third.
The Lakers face the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night in Salt Lake City in their final game before the break.
The Pistons (8-45), who won just two of 40 games from Oct. 30-Jan. 22 before winning four of their previous nine games, were by Ausar Thompson’s 19 points and Cade Cunningham’s 12 points, seven assists and seven rebounds. James Wiseman added 16 points and nine rebounds off the bench.
More to come on this story.