Lakers bounce back in commanding win over Pistons
DETROIT—The Los Angeles Lakers bounced and gained momentum in a commanding 133-107 win over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday.
The Lakers’ win improves their season record to 11-8 and 8-3 in their last 11 games, despite dealing with multiple injuries throughout the season.
After a 44-point loss to Philadelphia on Monday, the Lakers caught a break in the schedule, facing a young Detroit team coming off a 14-game losing streak which was also beneficial in giving LeBron James and Anthony Davis rest in the fourth quarter before Thursday’s second game of a back-to-back.
The big scoring night was boosted by a flamethrower start to the game by D’Angelo Russell, who went 6-for-6 with 13 points in the first seven minutes of play.
“It’s my first time this year; I feel like getting into that rhythm, so for me, I was just trying to stay locked in the whole game,” Russell said.
Russell finished with a game-high 35 points on 5-for-7 (71.4) shooting from three and 13-for-17 (76.4%) overall, with nine assists, four rebounds and two blocks in 34 minutes.
Russell, LeBron and Davis were in sync for the Lakers offense, accumulating 88 of their 133 points.
Davis finished with a dominating double-double performance, scoring 28 points on 9-of-15 (60%) from the field and 16 rebounds, four assists and three blocks in 29 minutes of action.
With Davis and Russell having big nights, it allowed LeBron to sit back and play what the defense gave him while not carrying a heavy load of the offense.
“DLo and AD got it started obviously with the hot streak they had in the first quarter, and then we just all tried to pick it up after that,” LeBron said.
LeBron finished with 25 points on 9-of-19 shooting from the floor, adding eight rebounds and two assists in 28 minutes.
Christian Wood provided energy from the Lakers bench with 12 points, nine rebounds and two blocks in 25 minutes.
Rookie Jalen Hood-Schifino got more playing time than usual due to the big margin, with a career-high 10 points on an efficient 3-for-4 from the floor in 10 minutes.
The Lakers will play their second game of a back-to-back on Thursday against the Oklahoma City Thunder at 5 p.m. before their in-season tournament trip to Vegas next week.
