Lakers player grades: L.A.'s winning streak ends in Detroit
· Yahoo Sports
The Los Angeles Lakers looked to extend their winning streak to 10 games on Monday when they visited the Detroit Pistons on Monday. One might have thought they had a great shot of winning yet again with Pistons superstar Cade Cunningham out due to a collapsed lung, even though they were without veteran guard Marcus Smart and reserve forward Rui Hachimura.
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Instead, this game would turn into a grind for the Purple and Gold. After the Lakers took a seven-point lead late in the first quarter, Detroit turned up its defense, as well as its offense, and outscored the Lakers 42-25 in the second quarter. Los Angeles trailed by as many as 16 points before fighting back and making things competitive throughout the fourth quarter, but it had trouble manufacturing points on a consistent basis.
After tying the score at 91, it fell behind 105-98 with 4:22 left. Luke Kennard's three free throws knotted the score at 105-all with 2:39 to go, and it looked like perhaps the Lakers were poised to come up with yet another victory.
But with nine seconds left, they found themselves down 113-110, and Luka Doncic was forced into throwing up a highly contested rainbow 3-pointer that didn't come close to going through the hoop. Just like that, the Lakers' winning streak was history.
They went just 8-of-28 from 3-point range, and while they committed only 13 turnovers, eight of them came in the fourth quarter. Detroit, meanwhile, shot 42.3% from downtown and was able to create better looks from long distance than L.A. did.
L.A. now has a 46-26 record and is still in third place in the Western Conference, and as of this writing, the team is two games ahead of the fourth-place Houston Rockets.
Jake LaRavia: C-plus
LaRavia continues not to be aggressive offensively. He went 3-of-4 from the field and scored seven points in 29 minutes, and he even hit a 3-pointer, something he has rarely done this month. But he contributed almost nothing else.
He normally does a nice job of hustling on the boards, but he had just one rebound on Monday, to go along with one assist. In the month of March, he's now 4-of-21 from 3-point range.
Deandre Ayton: B-plus
Ayton was enough of a presence in this game to give the Lakers a chance at victory. He grabbed 10 rebounds, which helped his team outrebound Detroit by two, and he scored 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field.
With 39.9 seconds left, he got deep post position, received the basketball and was fouled. With Detroit out of fouls, he went to the free throw line and made both attempts to put Los Angeles ahead 108-107.
LeBron James: C
James hurt his hand in the first quarter, and he missed each of his first five shot attempts of the game, although he was able to rack up six assists in the first half. He didn't score his first field goal until there was 5:54 to go in the third quarter, and while he shot well from that point on, the Lakers needed him to be more aggressive offensively.
He ended up shooting 4-of-10 from the field and scoring 12 points, and he also had 10 assists, nine rebounds and one block. But he committed four turnovers, and three of them came in the fourth quarter.
Austin Reaves: B-plus
Reaves went 2-of-8 in the first half. He started to get going in the second half, continuing a trend that has developed lately, and he scored 16 points in the second half. He ended up with 24 points on 7-of-15 field-goal shooting.
He also contributed five assists, two assists and one block. But the Pistons pressured his ball-handling, which resulted in three turnovers, all of which came in the fourth quarter.
Luka Doncic: B-minus
For the second game in a row, Doncic had trouble with his shooting. He scored 17 points in the first quarter, but afterward, the Pistons swarmed him when he had the ball and looked to attack. He went scoreless in the second quarter, and after going 5-of-11 in the first quarter, he was 6-of-18 from the field the rest of the way.
He finished with 32 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals.
Jaxson Hayes: A-minus
With the Pistons applying a lot of defensive pressure on the Lakers' three stars, Hayes got a number of easy opportunities near the rim. He made all five of his shot attempts, giving him 11 points in 21 minutes. He also turned in three rebounds, one assist, two steals and four blocks.
Luke Kennard: D-plus
Forty-eight hours after hitting the game-winning 3-pointer in Orlando, Kennard struggled against Detroit. He went 1-of-5 from the field and scored six points, and he missed a 3-point attempt with 1:20 left in the fourth quarter that would've put the Lakers ahead by two points. He also had three rebounds and two assists in 28 minutes.
Jarred Vanderbilt: B
With the Lakers a bit short-handed, Vanderbilt got onto the court for the first time since March 12, which was the last time Smart missed a game. He played 15 minutes and made two of his four shot attempts to score four points, while also contributing four rebounds and two assists.
Adou Thiero: Incomplete
Thiero, a second-round draft choice last year whom the Lakers acquired on draft day, unexpectedly came in with 5:49 left in the second quarter. He immediately got fouled while attempting a layup and made one of two free throws, and that would be his only contribution in this game.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers player grades: L.A.'s winning streak ends in Detroit