The Los Angeles Lakers barely kept their winning streak alive on Saturday. They’ll go for 10 in a row when they visit the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons on Monday.
Luke Kennard’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer allowed the Lakers (46-25) to pull out a 105-104 win over Orlando. Their last four victories have come on the road.
“We’ve had a number of things happen in the last couple of weeks, we’ve had a number of things happen on this road trip that has shown growth for our group,” coach J.J. Redick said. “We did a good job of just playing through stuff, whether it was some cold shooting, some hot shooting for them for a little stretch there, getting down, playing on the road. The external circumstances of whatever (Saturday) was and not allowing that to get us off our game.”
Kennard was acquired from Atlanta just prior to the trade deadline.
“Just being part of a new team, obviously you’re building new relationships, trying to find your role, what you do,” Kennard said. “But they brought me here for a reason, and that was to shoot. And it feels good. Feels good the way that everybody reacted, obviously.”
Luka Doncic will be eligible to play after the team successfully appealed to the league. The superstar guard picked up his 16th technical for a verbal battle with Orlando’s Goga Bitadze, which would trigger an automatic one-game suspension for reaching the season limit. However, the technical was rescinded on Sunday.
The Pistons (51-19) won’t have All-Star Cade Cunningham in uniform for the third consecutive game. The team announced Thursday that he’s dealing with a collapsed lung and expected to miss an extended period of time.
Detroit has won three straight and six of its last seven contests. The Pistons clinched a first-round berth in the Eastern Conference playoffs with a 115-101 victory over Golden State on Friday.
Jalen Duren, the team’s other All-Star, has led the team in scoring during the three-game streak, averaging 27.7 points.
“I’m just proud of my group. Proud of where I’m at now,” Duren said. “This is something that I’ve always known I can be. I’ve always known I can be one of the better players in this league, and I’ve still got a lot of room to grow. I don’t feel like I’m anywhere near as good as I can be. There’s still a lot of things I can get better at, but I’m proud of everybody. … From where we’ve started to now, I’m proud of everybody who has been a part of it.”
Detroit’s defense was overwhelming in the first game of a four-game homestand. The Pistons forced 26 turnovers, which they turned into 32 points. Ausar Thompson recorded seven steals.
“I thought that was a point of emphasis for us going into the game (was) trying to figure out how our defense can create that chaos that we’re looking for, how that could create transition opportunities for us,’ coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “I think that’s something that we have the ability to do consistently, and if it gets us out in transition, lets our athletes be athletes (and) play advantage basketball, it’s going to help us.”
The Pistons defeated the Lakers 128-106 in their first meeting on Dec. 30 in Los Angeles behind Cunningham’s 27 points and 11 assists.
–Field Level Media
