Ayton

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.

The Lakers played directly into Detroit’s hands.

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 narrowly behind Oklahoma City’s league-leading 58.2.

“We’ve got to definitely match their physicality,” said Luka Doncic, 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. “That’s the whole point. We got to match how they play.”

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’ Dec. 14 win. The Rockets poured in 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 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.

“We had a game plan,” James said as the Lakers allowed a season-high 63.2% shooting from the field. “We understand that they’re 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’d try to make them miss from the outside and they made some tonight and that’s OK.”

Marcus Sasser hit 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.

As Lakers coach JJ Redick talked after practice Monday about the long list of players who would be listed as day-to-day for Tuesday night’s game at Phoenix, he at least knew that center Deandre Ayton will be back after missing two games because of left elbow soreness.

Redick said Luka Doncic (left leg contusion), Austin Reaves (mild left calf strain) and Rui Hachimura (right groin soreness) are day-to-day. Gabe Vincent (lower back tightness), however, is expected to be out longer.

Redick said Doncic was injured when he was kneed by Clippers guard Bagdan Bogdanovic during Saturday night’s loss at Intuit Dome.
Redick said the Lakers have noticed that Doncic, who leads the NBA in scoring (34.1) and is fourth in assists (8.8), gets hit in his lower leg a lot during games.

“It could just be the de-ce. I don’t know,” Redick said, alluding to the way Doncic decelerates with the ball in his hands. “The way he uses his body? I don’t know. … We’re talking about looking into ways to potentially protect against these, so sort of like, collisions.”

Reaves, who’s 10th in scoring at 27.8 points, missed the last three games. He was on the court shooting after practice Monday, and Redick was asked what it will take for his guard to get back in games.

“Given the nature of that area, I think it’s when he feels 100% confident and he doesn’t feel it hurting,” Redick said. “It’s fun, guys. It’s fun. It’s fun. It’s a fun day to talk about injuries.”

Redick said there was no real update on Hachimura’s injury, but that Ayton was a full participant in practice.

Ayton, who is second in the NBA in field-goal percentage (71%) and is averaging 15.3 points and 9.0 rebounds, was asked if he was playing against his former team the Suns. He averaged 16 points and 11 rebounds in the first two matchups.

“Most definitely,” he said. “I’m straight. Most definitely.”