DETROIT — Winning streak snapped.
The Lakers’ nine-game winning streak came to an end on Monday night with a 113-110 loss to the Detroit Pistons after Luka Doncic couldn’t get a clean look and missed a game-tying 3-point attempt just before the final buzzer.
The Pistons, the Eastern Conference’s first-place team, took a one-point lead on a 12-foot baseline jumper from guard Daniss Jenkins with 25 seconds left. Doncic missed a go-ahead jumper with 12 seconds left, then Jenkins made a pair of free throws for a three-point lead with nine seconds left.
On the final inbounds play, Detroit center Jalen Duran locked up Doncic on the left wing as the final seconds ticked away, leaving the Slovenian star pivoting and firing an off-balance 3-point shot that fell short of the rim as time expired. Backup big man Maxi Kleber had created open space for Doncic on the left wing with a screen, blocking two defenders, but Detroit forward Tobias Harris deflected the pass which led Doncic to readjust and eventually misfire.
Doncic scored 32 points on 11-for-29 shooting (3 for 13 from behind the arc), while Austin Reaves had 24 points on a 7-for-15 effort from the field.
Jenkins played spoiler against the Lakers (46-26), finishing with a career-high 30 points on 11-for-18 shooting and eight assists to pace the Pistons (52-19), who have been without All-Star guard Cade Cunningham for three straight games after he suffered a collapsed lung last week.
“Of course, you give credit where credit is due,” Lakers forward LeBron James said. “They’re the No. 1 team in the East and they got a really good team. Even with their All-NBA player being out. So, give a lot of credit to them. We gave ourselves a chance.”
When the Lakers skidded through the first half of the season, navigating injuries to all three of their stars, Coach JJ Redick admitted that both his players and coaching staff turned inward, reverting back to their means of self-preservation. Before Monday’s game, Redick spoke about his team staying the course lately; trusting the teammate and coach beside them.
As the Lakers’ identity has come into focus during a 12-1 stretch, their roots have not snapped. They will bend but not break. They can battle back from first-half deficits. They trailed by 13 at halftime and by 16 in the third quarter on Monday, but they took the lead twice in the final minute, the last time when Reaves hit a running floater for a 110-109 advantage with 29.7 seconds to play.
“I talked about before the game, the growth we’ve had with being able to bend but not break and tonight was another example of that,” Redick said. “We did a good job of defending. We did a good job of just staying with it and got back in the game.”
The Lakers nearly pulled out their 10th consecutive win. Luke Kennard made three free throws to tie the score at 105 with 2:39 remaining, but after Pistons forward Tobias Harris converted a jumper in the paint, Deandre Ayton could only make one of two free throws.
Ayton made up for it on the Lakers’ following possession, when Jenkins hacked the 7-footer on the way to the rim and Ayton made both free throws for a 108-107 lead with 39.9 seconds remaining. But Jenkins kept responding for Detroit, with free throws to match Ayton (13 points, 10 rebounds) before hitting his game-winning shot.
LeBron James, on the other hand, has been adding NBA records to his already gaudy resume since the All-Star break – the career fields goal record, breaking his own oldest-to-record-a-triple-double mark against Miami on Thursday, and the career games played record on Saturday in Orlando.
Against Detroit, James did something he hadn’t done in more than 15 years. He went scoreless in the first half for just the third time in his 23-year NBA career, his first game with a goose egg on the scoreboard at the break since Dec. 20, 2010. James finished with 12 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds and helped aid the Lakers’ comeback effort.
Scoring his first points of the night on a 3-pointer with 5:54 left in the third quarter, James went into facilitator mode. The 41-year-old fed Reaves for a 3-pointer on the right wing before his teammate returned the favor for a running layup to make it an 81-75 game
The Lakers tied the score at 91-all with nine minutes to play, but the Pistons responded with a 10-3 run to pull ahead 101-94. The Lakers had eight of their 13 total turnovers during the fourth quarter and struggled to keep Detroit away from the rim, but they finally tied it on Kennard’s three free throws.
“Obviously, if you’re not shooting the ball and you’re giving the ball to the other team, it hurts,” Redick said.
Duren had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Pistons, who won their fourth straight and seventh in the past eight games. Harris had 14 points and Duncan Robinson added 12.
The Lakers were without forward Rui Hachimura and guard Marcus Smart. Both are day-to-day. Hachimura got imaging on his right calf and it came back clear, Redick said, after he took a hit in the leg against Miami on Thursday. Smart injured his right ankle Saturday when an Orlando player fell on his leg. Smart is also dealing with right hip soreness from another fall in that game.