Cade Cunningham was dominant, and Marcus Sasser was the brightest spark on a bench full of them in a dominant 128-106 win for the Pistons. The win ends a brief two-game losing streak for Detroit and allows the Pistons to end a grueling stretch that sw them play eight road games in their last nine on a positive note.
The Pistons were simply too much for the Lakers to handle on the offensive end. Detroit was getting anything they wanted, and what they wanted was to get easy looks in the paint. Detroit had
more than 40 paint points in the first half alone and finished the game with 74 points inside.
Cunningham was brilliant — 27 points and 11 assists on 63% shooting from the floor. Cade might have been overshadowed, however, by Marcus Sasser. It was a surpise to see Sass get first-quarter minutes, but Caris LeVert was out and Detroit lost Tobias Harris early (hip injury) so Detroit turned to the third-year guard.
Sasser, who missed most of the early part of the season with a hip injury of his own and found himself losing rotation minutes to Dannis Jenkins didn’t let this opportunity go to waste. Sasser did what he does. He used his explosive first step to create room for himself to get his perimeter shot away. Sasser scored 19 points, hit four threes, had five assists, and inexplicably led the team in foul shots with five.
The bench has been a bright spot for the Pistons all season, and it really underlined where the Pistons and Lakers find themselves this season. Detroit has a young, talented bench and can mine depth at nearly every position. The Lakers had 24 points outside of garbage time while Detroit had 50. On a night when both teams’ stars had it going — Cade with 27 and Luka Doncic with 30, it is the benches that allow the Pistons to be first in the East while the Lakers are fighting to stay above the play-in fray.
The Pistons seemingly dominated the first half, but only led by five at the break thanks to the Lakers’ penchant for getting easy points at the charity stripe. It didn’t get any easier for most of the second half. The game was tied at 79 apiece midway through the third quarter. The Pistons had a ton of players in foul trouble, no answer for Doncic, and the crowd was getting into it.
Detroit dug deep and the Lakers folded. It was actually a shock how easily the Lakers seemed to decide they were destined to lose this one. One moment they were playing hard and scraping together quality looks, and the next minute it was a blowout. It seemes they decided if they couldn’t grift their way to free throw looks, they had no chance. Perhaps they were right.
On a night when just about everyone played well, it’s worth shouting out some of Detroit’s other players. Jalen Duren was a beast early, providing rim pressure, skilled footwork, and defensive pressure. He finished with 16 points, eight rebounds, and five steals. Isaiah Stewart had 15 points off the bench, Jaden Ivey scored nine, including some tough looks at the rim through multiple defenders, and Ron Holland was a tone setter and needed scorer during a crucial stretch of the third with Cunningham on the bench. He had 11 points and seven rebounds while playing the “best” defense against Doncic. In other words, he got baited into the least number of fouls.
The Pistons are almost ready to go home with an opportunity to sleep in their own beds for a while. Detroit plays 10 of their next 12 at Little Caesars Arena. First they go to LCA to play Miami on Thursday and then hit the road yet again for a tilt against the Cavs. Then it’s home for six straight.
