The Los Angeles Lakers allowed the Pistons to get under their skin!
To be clear here, the Detroit Pistons are not that good. They were next to last in the Eastern Conference going into this contest. However, the Pistons tried to grind the game up with physicality to get the Lakers out of rhythm and it worked.
The Pistons brought in Isaiah Stewart, a rookie out of Washington and he started laying wood to the Lakers front line inside. He and Montrezl Harrell had words and got double technical fouls. He was seen jawing with Markieff Morris. Both players were consumed with frustration for the rest of the game. Mason Plumlee joined the act to the point Kentavious Caldwell-Pope horse-collared him as he scored a layup.
Soon after, missed layups started happening which irritated LeBron along with a lot of complaining to the officials.
After the Pelicans game, about a week ago, Lake Show Life pointed out that less talented teams would start taking cheap shots at the players.
"The Los Angeles Lakers will be facing less talented teams that will take shots like these going forward. There will be situations where the Lakers need to send messages to the NBA that there will be consequences and retaliations. Especially with games that were not called at a high level…"
If the Lakers forgot the unwritten rule of every NBA team giving them their best shot on a nightly basis, hopefully, this game was cold water to the face. Bottom line, the Lakers got outplayed by a team that wanted it more. The two major runs in the second half put things away.
- The Pistons erased a seven-point Lakers deficit with a 15-2 run in the third quarter.
- While hanging on to a 88-87 lead in the fourth quarter, Detroit ran away with 14 straight points to put the game away.
The loss drops Los Angeles to third place in the Western Conference behind a Utah Jazz team on a 10 game winning streak and the Los Angeles Clippers.
Even though this loss will generate some to panic, a two-game losing streak happens and may happen again with the quick turnaround from last season. However, another performance in front of a national TV audience will cause some interrogations on what’s wrong with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Lake Show Life is extending its post-game coverage this season! There will be a short post-game report shortly after the game in addition to the extended post-game of Lake Show Life Lessons!
More championship coverage for championship fans.