{"id":509431,"date":"2026-01-01T07:53:30","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T07:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/509431\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T07:53:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T07:53:30","slug":"lakers-takeaways-pistons-dominate-paint-as-lakers-close-out-a-sub-500-december","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/509431\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers takeaways: Pistons dominate paint as Lakers close out a sub-.500 December"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Lakers<\/a> started the day by singing \u201cHappy Birthday\u201d to LeBron James<\/a> as the superstar forward turned 41 on Tuesday. They ended by singing another familiar, but more somber tune.<\/p>\n

The Lakers got blown out again Tuesday, letting a close game devolve into a 128-106 loss to the Detroit Pistons<\/a>. James scored 17 points with four assists and five turnovers while the Lakers (20-11) lost by 20 points for the sixth time this season. They are tied for the third-most 20-point losses in the league, yet somehow are still clinging to fifth place in the Western Conference standings.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe intent and the, like, effort was there for the most part tonight,\u201d coach JJ Redick<\/a> said. \u201c… The turnovers and the fast-break points, they kill you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here are three takeaways from the loss:<\/p>\n

Read more: Lakers still searching for their identity after late implosion vs. Pistons<\/a><\/p>\n

Detroit executes its plan<\/p>\n

The scouting 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 turnovers forced.<\/p>\n

The Lakers played directly into Detroit\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

Detroit scored 74 points in the paint, the most given up by the Lakers all season, and capitalized on 21 Lakers turnovers for 30 points. Entering the game, the Pistons\u2019 58.1 points in the paint per game were only behind Oklahoma City\u2019s league-leading 58.2.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe’ve got to definitely match their physicality,\u201d said Luka Doncic<\/a>, who led the Lakers with 30 points and 11 assists, but had eight turnovers, which is tied for his second-most in a game this season. \u201cThat’s the whole point. We got to match how they play.”<\/p>\n

Last week, the Lakers faced Phoenix and Houston, two teams with similar styles to Detroit. The Suns averaged 59 paint points in their two wins over the Lakers in December compared to 44 in the Lakers\u2019 Dec. 14 win. The Rockets poured in 68 paint points on Christmas Day.<\/p>\n

The Pistons made more shots in the paint (37) than the Lakers attempted (34) and kept their shooting percentage sky-high when three-pointers started to fall. Detroit, which had been shooting 34.7% from three this season, made 11 of 24 (45.8%) from beyond the arc Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a game plan,\u201d James said as the Lakers allowed a season-high 63.2% shooting from the field by Detroit. \u201cWe understand that they\u2019re probably No. 1 in points in the paint in the NBA. They get a lot of their points off fast breaks and in the paint. So we knew we\u2019d try to make them miss from the outside and they made some tonight and that’s OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Marcus Sasser made four of six from three, all in the second half, to finish with 19 points off the bench. Cade Cunningham starred for the Pistons with 27 points and 11 assists.<\/p>\n

Jaxson Hayes\u2019 return sparks bench<\/p>\n

As the Lakers\u2019 revolving door of injuries continued to turn, Jaxson Hayes returned to the lineup Tuesday while forward Rui Hachimura was sidelined. After missing two games because of an ankle injury, Hayes came off the bench for 13 points with two rebounds, two assists and one steal, giving the team a jolt of energy behind starting center Deandre Ayton.<\/p>\n

Ayton finished with 10 points but only two rebounds, which equaled his fewest for a full game this season.<\/p>\n

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Read more: Lakers newsletter: It’s the Luka and LeBron show again<\/a><\/p>\n

Ayton commended Hayes earlier this season, calling the high-flying Hayes \u201cthe best big man I\u2019ve played alongside when it comes to holding your own.\u201d Ayton pointed out how Hayes thrives when he\u2019s throwing down thunderous dunks that amp up the crowd or making second-effort plays that magnify the athletic 7-footer\u2019s true talents. Ayton\u2019s strengths lie in his work in the pocket, but their complementary skill sets have been critical for the Lakers frontcourt.<\/p>\n

“Both those guys, throughout the season, when there has been two on the ball with Luka, have done a really good job of making pocket decisions, and making the right play, whether that’s to the corner, the slot, cutter from the corner,\u201d Redick said before the game. \u201c… Both those guys have been really good for us.”<\/p>\n

The Lakers got Hayes back, but Hachimura will be out for at least one week after he missed Tuesday\u2019s game with left calf soreness. Jake LaRavia started in his place and had nine points with four rebounds and four steals.<\/p>\n

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Lakers could use a new year reset\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Lakers can\u2019t wait to turn the calendar on this month. They went 5-7 during December, endured their only losing streak of the season and got exposed by potential playoff teams such as San Antonio, Phoenix and Houston.<\/p>\n

After decisive losses to other Western Conference contenders, the Lakers provided hope against the Pistons by keeping pace with the No. 1 team in the East for three quarters. The Lakers fought back from a 14-point second-quarter deficit to tie the score midway through the third.<\/p>\n

Then they scored only eight points in the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter and emptied the bench down 26 with 4:09 left.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think we played good basketball for three quarters, physical basketball,\u201d Doncic said. \u201cWe just kind of let go of the rope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more: Lakers takeaways: Nick Smith Jr. shines in win over Kings with Austin Reaves sidelined<\/a><\/p>\n

The Lakers begin 2026 with home games against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday and Sunday. Still without Austin Reaves (calf) for a month, the Lakers have eight of their next nine games against teams with losing records. The Lakers are 13-3 against teams below .500.<\/p>\n

But even some seemingly lopsided matchups have gone awry for the Lakers. They lost to the Clippers on Dec. 20 in a game that ended with four starters on the bench because of injuries.<\/p>\n

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The Lakers\u2019 defensive rating of 122.4 points allowed per 100 possessions is 29th in the NBA during December.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just got to dig deep down and everyone has got to bring effort every time, all the time,\u201d Hayes said, \u201cand that\u2019s all we have to care about is defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up for our weekly newsletter on all things Lakers.<\/a><\/p>\n

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lakers started the day by singing \u201cHappy Birthday\u201d to LeBron James as the superstar forward turned 41…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3773],"tags":[1013,7,909,559,1586,296,188,3860,292,4077,32,1661,300,185,368,3302,177,6,475,297,1012,969],"class_list":{"0":"post-509431","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-pistons","8":"tag-austin-reaves","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-cade-cunningham","11":"tag-clippers","12":"tag-deandre-ayton","13":"tag-detroit","14":"tag-detroit-pistons","15":"tag-detroitpistons","16":"tag-houston","17":"tag-jake-laravia","18":"tag-jaxson-hayes","19":"tag-jj-redick","20":"tag-lakers","21":"tag-lebron-james","22":"tag-luka-doncic","23":"tag-marcus-sasser","24":"tag-memphis-grizzlies","25":"tag-nba","26":"tag-oklahoma-city","27":"tag-pistons","28":"tag-rui-hachimura","29":"tag-san-antonio"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115818764964151600","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}