L.A. closed out its road trip on a high.
On Sunday, your Los Angeles Lakers concluded their six-game road trip by holding on for an uneven-but-ultimately triumphant victory over a talented but tanking Detroit Pistons team that managed to keep things far too close for comfort late, even without point guard Cade Cunningham, now out for the year with a shin injury.
L.A. did win, 124-117, and a lot of that came down to All-Star Lakers power forward LeBron James trusting reserve shooting guard Austin Reaves in a late sequence during the game’s hotly contested fourth quarter, with Los Angeles up by just two points.
Five-time Lakers championship-winning point guard Derek Fisher broke down this key moment during the Spectrum SportsNet postgame show.
“It’s hard to explain to people why the inconsistency with lineups really does impact your ability to close games well, because you want to have guys that are your closing guys,” Fisher said.
“Austin Reaves, in this situation, you see Detroit come with the double-team, [rookie center Jalen] Duren allows LeBron to get right, and Jaden Ivy is tempted to go after that ball, but you cannot leave a strong-side shooter in the corner in front of the basket that way, there was no need to add that third [Detroit defender] there. Austin Reaves does a great job of being ready to embrace the moment, not run away from it. Squares it up, catches it, knocks it down.”
Tonight, the Lakers are currently battling another Eastern Conference foe, the much-better Boston Celtics, at home. L.A. is hoping to win its second straight game overall by capitalizing on the absences of starting power forward Al Horford and starting center Robert Williams III. Of course, the club’s All-Star tandem Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, 2022 Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, and sixth man Malcolm Brogdon are all very much still available for the boys in green.
