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Lakers News: Second Straight Dominant Anthony Davis Game Leads To Second Straight Lakers Win

A LeBron-less L.A. beat a Cade Cunningham-less Pistons team, 128-121.

Alex Kirschenbaum

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Los Angeles Lakers big man Anthony Davis reminded everyone that his All-Star days may not be entirely behind him just yet, willing his way to a 128-121 Crypto.com Arena victory over the visiting Detroit Pistons tonight.

As LeBron James continues to rehabilitate his left adductor strain, Darvin Ham went with the starting lineup he has employed since last weekend, shifting Troy Brown and Lonnie Walker up a position, to power forward and small forward, respectively, with Austin Reaves promoted from the bench to a starting shooting guard, and Patrick Beverley the starting point guard.

With Dennis Schroder and Thomas Bryant now available and LeBron James sitting, Ham opted to make center Damian Jones and, in a bit of a surprise, sharpshooter Matt Ryan healthy scratches. This writer found it fascinating that combo guard Kendrick Nunn, who has had a miserable season so far, got the nod ahead of Ryan, one of L.A.'s few good shooters, and, you know, a player who's a bit taller than 6'2". So essentially the Lakers allocated major minutes to four point guards tonight.

Thanks to a flurry of late-period jumpers (largely courtesy of power forward Bojan Bogdanovic, reserve guard Alec Burks and rookie shooting guard Jaden Ivey) Detroit led, 37-30, at the end of the first quarter.

After the Pistons built their lead up to 48-35 early in the second quarter, Darvin Ham quickly replaced Beverley and Nunn (who had started the frame) with Austin Reaves and sixth man Russell Westbrook. The Lakers subsequently finished the frame on a 33-16 run.

Westbrook particularly helped L.A. close the gap a bit by looking to feed Wenyen Gabriel and Thomas Bryant frequently inside. 

The 34-year-old vet had 10 dimes in the first half alone. He capped off a magnificent passing frame with this inbounds to Lonnie Walker in the corner for a buzzer-beating triple.

The Lakers would enter the break leading by four, 68-64. Anthony Davis had 16 points and eight rebounds in the opening half, but he was just getting started.

On his 19th birthday, rookie Pistons center Jalen Duren showed exactly why the Pistons traded up to select him with the No. 13 pick in the 2021 draft, flashing an exciting athleticism that basically every non-Lonnie Walker IV Lakers player lacks this season:

In the waning seconds of that third frame, Westbrook regressed into some Westbrookian low-lights, chucking the ball out-of-bounds and then, on the next possession, forcing up a three-point attempt with a defender draped all over him that barely connected with the front of the rim. The Lakers concluded the third quarter leading by just a point, 96-95.

Thankfully, Anthony Davis refused to go quietly into the dark night, scoring 16 (4-of-6 shooting from the floor, 8-of-8 shooting from the charity stripe) of the Lakers' 32 total points during the closeout quarter.

Reaves played a major role in the fourth period as well, nabbing eight points of his own (2-of-3 shooting from the field, 4-of-4 from the free-throw line) in the frame, including this nifty lay-in:

The Lakers' advantage crept up to double digits for the first time all night with 4:07 remaining, and mostly stayed there till Pistons guard Alec Burks made a final, meaningless triple at the 22.8-second mark to shave the final margin to 128-121. 

All told, six Lakers finished in double figures: Davis, Walker (17 points on 6-of-13 shooting), Reaves (16 points on 5-of-8 shooting, plus six assists), Westbrook (10 points on 4-of-13 shooting, plus 12 assists and five rebounds), reserve combo guard Kendrick Nunn (10 points on 4-of-4 shooting), and backup power forward/center Wenyen Gabriel (15 points on 5-of-5 shooting, plus seven rebounds and a block).

Davis was the star of the show for L.A., and has finally looked comfortable carrying the offensive burden late in games since LeBron has been sidelined (coincidence?). He scored a season-best 38 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the floor, and got to the free-throw line an astonishing 21 times (he made 18 of those looks). The Brow also grabbed 16 rebounds, swatted away four shots, dished out two dimes, and swiped one steal.

A big, noticeable change for Davis recently has been his improved shot profile. Tonight, he (and a lot of his L.A. teammates) made a point to prioritize the interior. AD took 11 of his 16 field goals inside the painted area, and nailed nine. He frequently drove inside to either generate contact and get to the charity stripe or finish around the rim.

On the Pistons side, Burks was the team's high scorer, with 23 points on 6-of-10 shooting (including 5-of-8 from deep). Killian Hayes, starting for Cade Cunningham, played surprisingly well, scoring 18 points on a shockingly efficient 7-of-14 shooting. Possible future Laker Bojan Bogdanovic chipped in 20.

Beyond just constantly feeding the rock to AD inside, a few numbers stand out tonight. The Lakers outscored the Pistons 66-50 in paint points. Los Angeles also enjoyed a significant advantage when it came to the team's free throws. L.A. took 40 charity stripe attempts, making 35 (87.5%), while Detroit got significantly fewer tries at the free-throw line (32) and made a less-exciting 24 (75%).

Backup center Thomas Bryant and reserve point guard Dennis Schröder made their season debuts for L.A. tonight. Schroder had a rough shooting night, going just 1-of-5 from the field for two points. Bryant looked pretty good, and as a true center occasionally was played alongside Davis or Gabriel, who both got to slide down to their more natural position of power forward. Bryant finished with eight points on 4-of-6 shooting, plus five rebounds, in just 13:09.

With the win, L.A. improves its record to 4-10. Detroit now falls to a 3-13 record on the season. Los Angeles will see its schedule ease up in the coming days. It will play four of its next five games against sub-.500 teams (the Spurs thrice and the Pacers once), and finally has a chance to string some victories together.

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Alex Kirschenbaum
ALEX KIRSCHENBAUM

Basketball is Alex's favorite sport, he likes the way they dribble up and down the court.

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