The Pistons take on the Lakers for the first time this season and it will be on National TV on NBC or Peacock. However, if you live on the East Coast, this is one of the NBA’s new late night games with a 10:30 start time. But, since the Grizzlies and 76ers play at 8 pm on NBC, there is a very real possibility we are looking at an even later start time. Hopefully you have tomorrow off of work for New Years Eve if you plan to stay up to watch this one.
The Lakers have been very up-and-down lately, but
so have the Pistons. One thing the Pistons have going for them is that Austin Reaves will be out for a few weeks due to a calf strain. The Lakers still have Luka and LeBron and will be looking for revenge after the Pistons swept the season series against the Lakers last season.
If you can make it through the night, this should be a good game.
Game Vitals
Where: crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA
When: Tuesday, December 30 at 10:30 pm EST
Watch: NBC/Peacock or Fan Duel Sports Network
Odds: Pistons (-2.5)
Analysis
In addition to the aforementioned absence of Austin Reaves, the Lakers will also be without Rui Hachimura, which will make the task of beating the Lakers much easier given the season Reaves is having and the importance Hachimura is to the Lakers for depth.
The story of the game is and always will be slowing down Luka Doncic, which is a near impossible task. This will be the first time the Pistons face the Lakers since the shocking Luka trade last season. Luka enters this game almost leading the Lakers in points, rebounds, and assists, but DeAndre Ayton has a slight edge in rebounding. He is a triple-double threat anytime he touches the court, but more importantly for the Pistons, he will live at the free throw line if you aren’t careful.
Luka enters this game averaging a career-high 11.7 Free Throws per game, which could be disastrous for a team like the Pistons that have a tendency to foul a lot. Cade Cunningham has been slowed down by fouls in a few of the games on this West road trip, so I would expect the Pistons to avoid having Cade guard Luka.
You cannot talk about the Lakers without at least mentioning LeBron James. He appears to be finally be getting hit by Father Time just a little bit, as he averages career-lows across the board in his age-41 season. It was bound to happen eventually, but the fact that he is still averaging 21/7/5 on the season and that is viewed as “getting hit by Father Time” is nothing short of impressive. He leaves a lot to be desired on the defensive end, but if the Pistons are not careful he is capable of having a throwback performance.
Outside of those two, there are not a ton of threats that the Pistons need to worry about on the Lakers. Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura are arguably the Lakers two best players outside of LeBron and Luka and in the case of Reaves, he is 2nd behind Luka. I will give a quick shout to Marcus Smart, who always seems to have his greatest shooting performances against the Pistons.
DeAndre Ayton is having a solid season, but he is the kind of big that won’t give Jalen Duren fits since he does not stretch the floor and plays a very similar game to Duren.
The key for the Pistons is going to be getting any semblance of shooting back. Lost in the 55 point masterclass that Kawhi Leonard put up on Sunday against the Pistons is the fact that the Pistons did not make a 3-pointer in the 1st half. That is just one game after they made a season-high 18 threes against the Utah Jazz. But, if you have been paying attention to the Pistons at all this season, you know that the Clippers performance is closer to the norm than the Jazz performance.
With the Pistons defense dropping off a bit over the last few weeks, their lack of ability to put the ball in the basket outside of the paint is really getting exposed and causing them problems. The Lakers aren’t a great defensive team, so this is hopefully a chance to get things back on track. However, if the Pistons continue to miss open jumpers, which a lot of them were against the Clippers on Sunday, it isn’t going to matter how much resistance they are getting.
The Pistons are only 9-6 over their last 13 games, which is how many games they have played since their 14-game winning streak came to an end. It is still better than expected for this season, but a disappointment given how the team started.
This is the final night of a West Coast road trip in which the Pistons are 2-2. Given the schedule they faced on this road trip, returning home with a record of 2-3 would be a huge disappointment, so this is a must-win game as the Pistons have also seen their lead in the East fall down to 1 game.
Lineups
Detroit Pistons (24-8): Cade Cunningham, Duncan Robinson, Ausar Thompson, Tobias Harris, Jalen Duren
Los Angeles Lakers (20-10): Luka Doncic, Marcus Smart, Jake LaRavia, LeBron James, DeAndre Ayton
Question of the Day
Are you concerned with how the Pistons have played on this West Coach trip or is it just the usual East-to-West traveling struggles?
