Lakers takeaways: Pistons dominate paint, Lakers close out a sub-.500 December
The reconnaissance report was clear. The Pistons (25-8) were second in the league in points in the paint. They were third in points off turnovers and third in forced turnovers.
The Lakers made the play directly from Detroit.
Detroit scored 74 points in the paint, the most allowed by the Lakers all season, and capitalized on 21 Lakers turnovers for 30 points. Entering the game, the Pistons’ 58.1 points in the paint per game were only slightly behind Oklahoma City’s league-leading 58.2.
“We definitely have to match their physicality,” said Luka Doncic, who led the Lakers with 30 points and 11 assists but had eight turnovers, which is tied for the second-most in a game this season. “That’s the whole point. We have to match the way they play.”
Last week, the Lakers faced Phoenix and Houston, two teams with similar styles to Detroit. The Suns averaged 59 points in their two wins over the Lakers in December, compared to 44 in the Lakers’ Dec. 14 victory. The Rockets scored 68 paint points on Christmas Day.
The Pistons made more shots in the paint (37) than the Lakers attempted (34) and kept their shooting percentage sky-high when the three-pointers started falling. Detroit, which had shot 34.7 percent from three this season, shot 11 of 24 (45.8 percent) from beyond the arc on Tuesday.
“We had a game plan,” James said as the Lakers allowed a season-high 63.2 percent field goal rate. “We understand that they’re probably No. 1 in points in the paint in the NBA. They get a lot of points on quick blocks and in the paint. So we knew we were going to try to make them miss from the outside and they scored some tonight and that’s no big deal.”
Marcus Sasser scored four of six from three, all in the second half, to finish with 19 points coming off the bench. Cade Cunningham starred for the Pistons with 27 points and 11 assists.
