The Los Angeles Lakers began a four-game road trip on Sunday when they took on the Detroit Pistons. They came into this game with a four-game winning streak and an 8-2 record, while the Pistons were 6-2 and sported the NBA’s best defensive rating.
The Lakers’ chances of beating the Pistons seemed to go from weak to slim when Luka Doncic was ruled out before the opening tip due to low back tightness. He had previously been listed as questionable.
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But L.A. responded with an impressive team effort. It got off to a 14-4 lead in the early minutes of this game, and it was up 38-14 at the end of the first quarter. The Pistons looked a step late on their defensive rotations, and the Lakers took advantage.
Detroit made things very competitive later on, starting by trimming the Lakers’ lead to 61-48 at halftime. Eleven unanswered points by the Pistons late in the third quarter brought them within three points, and they came to within one point early in the fourth quarter, making the rest of this game a real battle. But the Lakers flexed enough defensive muscle to come away with a 121-116 victory.
Los Angeles shot an even 50% from the field, as well as 39.3% from 3-point range, and it attempted 13 more free throws than the Pistons. L.A. also had a 58-46 advantage in points in the paint and a 19-18 edge in second-chance points, and its bench came through in a big way with 45 points.
It will immediately head south to take on the Atlanta Hawks on Monday.
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Matisse Thybulle: C-plus
Thybulle shot 2-of-5 from the field and missed all three of his 3-point attempts, giving him four points. But he partly made up for his lack of offensive efficiency by coming up with four steals, and in 28 minutes, he had two rebounds.
Jake LaRavia: C-minus
LaRavia has been hot from the perimeter to start this season, but on Sunday, he was quiet. He made one of his three shot attempts, and he ended up with five points, two assists and one rebound in 29 minutes.
Quentin Grimes: C-plus/B-minus
Grimes hit back-to-back 3-pointers early in the first quarter to help the Lakers get off to their fast start. He scored 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting in the first quarter, but after that, he went cold.
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He didn’t make a single field-goal attempt the rest of the way. He finished with 12 points on 4-of-12 overall shooting and 2-of-5 from beyond the arc, to go along with four assists, one steal, one block and one rebound in 32 minutes.
Walker Kessler: A
Kessler definitely stood tall in this game. He grabbed 16 rebounds, with seven of them coming on the offensive glass, allowing the Lakers to outrebound Detroit by one. He scored 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting and even had four assists.
Defensively, Kessler came through with three blocks and one steal. His third rejection of the game came with 5:03 left in the fourth quarter when he denied a dunk attempt by Ausar Thompson with L.A. ahead 97-94.
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The 7-foot-2 center continues to be as excellent as advertised and well worth the price the Lakers paid for him this summer.
Austin Reaves: A
Over the years, Reaves has routinely stepped up offensively when either Doncic or LeBron James was unable to play. This game was yet another example of how he will come through with a big offensive outburst when his team needs to.
He scored eight points in the first six minutes of the contest, and he ended the first half with 19 points. He consistently attacked the basket off the dribble, and he did a nice job of handling Detroit’s defensive pressure on the perimeter, as he committed just one turnover despite being consistently hounded.
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Reaves kept pouring it on as the game progressed, and he ended up with 43 points on 14-of-27 shooting, 4-of-6 from downtown and 11-of-11 from the free throw line. He also chipped in five rebounds and four assists, and overall, this game was evidence that he can be and probably is the second star the Lakers need to become championship contenders.
Collin Sexton: B-plus
After a couple of weak offensive outings, Sexton responded by hitting five of his 10 field-goal attempts and seven of eight from the free throw line to score 17 points in 24 minutes. He also helped out with two rebounds and two assists, and while he had a couple of defensive miscues, he gave the Lakers what they could’ve reasonably expected from him off the bench.
Ziaire Williams: A
With Grimes yet again being ineffective offensively, Williams picked up the slack. He scored 17 points by making six of his 10 shot attempts and going 4-of-8 from 3-point land, and in his spare time, he had two rebounds and one block.
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Jarred Vanderbilt: A-minus
Vanderbilt’s role off the bench isn’t necessarily to score points — it is to play energetic defense, hit the boards, run the floor and hustle. He played his role very well on Sunday by coming up with 10 rebounds and pitching in two points, three assists and one block in 14 minutes.
Without him, the Lakers likely would’ve lost this game.
Sandro Mamukelashvili: B-minus
Mamukelashvili made a decent contribution in 18 minutes off the bench. He made three of his five shot attempts to score seven points, along with three rebounds.
Adou Thiero: C
In eight minutes, Thiero had two points and two rebounds. His lone basket came when he hustled for an offensive rebound and delivered a putback jam early in the second quarter.
This article originally appeared on Lakers Wire: Lakers player grades: No Luka, no problem — L.A. gets past Pistons
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
