LOS ANGELES — An NBA team’s identity can be fickle throughout an 82-game regular season.
And the Lakers’ 117-114 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Monday night showed they’re still ironing out their latest one.
Through the first month of the season, the Lakers’ offense carried them to a strong start.
The following month, their defense either kept them in games or outright won them.
Monday’s game looked like more of the former, but without the victory, as the Lakers dropped to 16-13 and saw their three-game winning streak come to an end.
“The bad teams probably go through 20-30 identities – the good teams probably go through 8-12 identities,” first-year Lakers head coach JJ Redick said earlier this month. “The really good teams probably still go through 3-5 identities. It’s a long season.”
LeBron James had 28 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds for his eighth triple-double of the season (120th of his career) for the Lakers, but he missed a long 3-point attempt at the buzzer. Anthony Davis had 19 points, 10 rebounds, six rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals on a night when the Lakers turned the ball over 20 times (leading to 28 Pistons points).
“We were just loose with the ball,” Davis said. “We were trying to make the right plays. But they do a good job of creating turnovers and it’s hard to win a game with 20. But we’ve just got to be better with the basketball, everybody. That’s what was the difference in the game. When we were in the halfcourt, we were pretty good defensively. But the turnovers were a big part of why they won.”
The Lakers had 13 more free-throw attempts than the Pistons (25-12) but finished with 18 fewer shots from the field.
“It’s very hard to win in this league if you give the other team 15 more scoring opportunities than you did,” Redick said. “That’s it. It’s hard to win.”
Max Christie scored a season-high 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field (3 for 4 from 3-point range). Austin Reaves had 12 points and seven rebounds but six turnovers, saying after the game that he needs to play better.
“They’re a really aggressive defensive team, and myself personally, I didn’t handle it well,” he said.
The Pistons used a 16-4 run to build a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter. The Lakers trailed 117-106 with just over three minutes remaining, struggling to slow a Detroit offense that found its rhythm from behind the arc, knocking down 11 of its first 26 3-pointers before missing the last four.
The Lakers made a comeback attempt when Rui Hachimura assisted Christie on a 3-pointer to cut their deficit to eight and James converted a three-point play on a fadeaway jumper, knocking down the free throw to trim the margin to five.
James then made a layup to cut the Lakers’ deficit to three with 46 seconds left.
It looked like Davis was going to head to the free-throw line for a pair of shots after Tobias Harris was called for a shooting foul against Davis on his roll to the rim after James drove into the paint and collapsed Detroit’s defense.
But Pistons coach J. B. Bickerstaff challenged the call and the play was overturned on video review, giving Detroit possession with a three-point lead and 28.9 seconds remaining.
The Lakers forced Cade Cunningham (20 points, 10 assists, five rebounds) to miss a step-back 3-point attempt to regain possession with 3.7 seconds left, but James missed an open 30-footer on an after-timeout play to seal the loss.
“We got the look we wanted and it just didn’t go,” James said.
In addition to the 20 turnovers, the Pistons outscored the Lakers 64-40 in the paint. Having problems with the league’s more physical, athletic teams is not a new issue for the Lakers, but James said there are things they can try to do to help combat those kinds of opponents.
“We gotta be stronger. That’s all,” the four-time league MVP said. “We gotta do it as a team. We gotta help guys get open. When guys are pressuring the ball, you gotta help guys screen better. You gotta screen better. You gotta use your triple-threat (position). When you have a live dribble, get guys up off you.
“It’s not something you can learn, though. You don’t learn to be more physical. It’s either in you or it’s not.”
Former Laker Malik Beasley scored 21 points off the bench (five 3-pointers) to lead the Pistons (13-17). Jaden Ivey added 18 points as Detroit beat the Phoenix Suns and the Lakers on the road to win consecutive games for the first time since Nov. 17 and just the third time all season.
