The picture is an AI-generated illustration, not a photograph from the match
Luka Doncic sat this one out after averaging 45 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in a four-game winning run, and the Lakers needed someone else: Reaves gave them 43 points, five rebounds and four assists in 36 minutes at Little Caesars Arena.
45, nine and eight going into the night
Los Angeles played this game without Luka Doncic, who had averaged 45 points, nine rebounds and eight assists across the four previous wins, every one of them a Lakers victory.
Reaves completed the assignment in full: 43 points, 11 of 11 free throws, one turnover and 36:41 on the floor.
A 23.0-point average over the previous four games said Reaves was already carrying more; against Detroit he simply took the shots as well.
Reaves played two seasons at Wichita State and one at Oklahoma before declaring for the 2021 draft, where the Pistons planned to take him 42nd; he declined so he could sign as a free agent with the Lakers, and Detroit moved on to Isaiah Livers, who played 130 NBA games and now plays in Japan.
Kessler pushed back on the luck talk: with Doncic on the floor Reaves takes a secondary role, and 43 points made the case that it is a choice, not a ceiling.
109-104 and a terrible shot that stayed up
The Lakers led by as many as 26 points in the second quarter, held the advantage for 97 percent of the game and never trailed, with no lead changes recorded.
Detroit closed to 109-104 with under a minute to play after the Lakers could not get their offense into rhythm, setting up the final sequence.
Reaves rose for a one-legged, off-balance three that went in, then called it a terrible shot that looked like one of the ridiculous attempts Doncic makes.
Notably, Detroit's answer came from elsewhere: Jenkins with 31 points on eight made threes, Huerter with 24 and five blocks, neither enough to change who held the lead.
The Pistons outshot Los Angeles from the arc, 19 makes to 11, and still spent the entire evening behind.
The rest of the line
The second-chance work was Los Angeles' quiet edge: Kessler's 16 rebounds included seven offensive, and the Lakers scored 58 points in the paint.
Two 17-point nights from Williams and Sexton, both arriving off the bench, were the next scoring lines after Reaves' 43.
Cunningham's night was crowded out: 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting, eight assists, four turnovers and a minus-15 rating.
In addition, Paul Reed had 10 rebounds with eight of them offensive and Ausar Thompson pulled 11 boards, yet Detroit finished one rebound behind.
In the wider picture, the Lakers improved to 9-2 and travelled to Atlanta for the Monday-night game that followed, while the Pistons dropped to 6-3 and hosted Washington the same evening.
Editor's take: Detroit's 48 three-point attempts are the more interesting number than its 19 makes; the shots exist, the lead does not.
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