How far are the Detroit Pistons away from being a No. 1 seed and favorite to win the NBA championship, like the Los Angeles Lakers? The two teams met once this season, and it was a heck of a game.
"“Obviously, this is not the way we wanted to win,” said Lakers center Anthony Davis after facing the Pistons to Spectrum Sportsnet. “They are a good team, they play hard. They play together. So we know it was going to be tough…”"
On the surface, it should have been an easy victory for Davis, LeBron James and Co. as the Detroit Pistons arrived at the Staples Center on January 5, 2020 tired and ravaged by injury.
Instead, it was a knock-down, drag-out fight to the end. It was a one-point game with one minute, 28 seconds remaining even though several times the Lakers thought they had put away the Pistons for good.
The final score was Lakers 106, Pistons 99 but it was much closer than that.
Ten months later, the Lakers were in the NBA finals after finishing as the No. 1 seed in its conference. That is the position the Pistons would like to be in someday.
How big is the gap between Detroit and the top teams in the NBA like the Lakers? Looking back to when the Pistons faced the favorite to win the NBA title, might give some clues.
First, let’s look at the state of the Pistons entering the contest. It was not good.
The Lakers were the Pistons fifth game on a road trip that had started badly, with three straight double-digit losses. The night before they played the Lakers, Detroit had pulled out an 111-104 win over the Golden State Warriors (who would go on to have the worst record in the NBA) at Oracle Arena. They immediately flew back to Los Angeles to face the Lakers in the second leg of a back-to-back, and its third game in four days.
Coming into the contest, the Pistons had been hit hard by injuries. Among those inactive, were key players like Blake Griffin, Reggie Jackson, Luke Kennard , Markieff Morris (who would later on play for L.A.) and Khyri Thomas.
The Lakers were not only more rested, but at full strength. They actually were deeper at that point than in the NBA finals, as they still had starting guard Avery Bradley, who is not playing in the playoffs.
With all the absences, coach Dwane Casey had to turn to a lot of inexperienced youngsters. Rookie Sekou Doumbouya got the start at small forward and matched up with James defensively. Having just turned 19, it was Doumbouya’s third straight start. In the previous two games, he had guarded Kawhi Leonard and Draymond Green.
Andre Drummond was still at that point the center but for the starting power forward position Casey made a move that seemed completely out of left field.
Christian Wood had barely made the team out of training camp. Most of his career had been spent in the minor leagues. However, Casey gave him his first-ever start for Detroit against the Lakers and a matchup with Davis
(Note: Apparently, he did not exactly knock Casey’s socks off as Wood would not get another start for over a month)
Veterans Tony Snell and Tim Frazier were the starting back-court but non-factors in the result. Frazier only played in the first half and Snell, battling a migraine, saw no action after a few minutes into the third period.
Las Vegas made it very clear how they viewed the game, a Lakers romp. The Pistons were installed as 14.5 point underdogs.
When Los Angeles bolted out to a 15-2 lead, it appeared those who had supported the Pistons with their money, had basically thrown it away.
But things would change, and then change again, and then yet again, as Pistons vs. Lakers turned into a heavyweight battle..
The game is on
As Derrick Rose entered the contest, he led a Pistons rally to cut the deficit to one point (23-22) by the end of the first quarter.
The second period was close but the Lakers ended it on a 12-4 run to take a comfortable 56-47 lead into halftime.
But just when the Lakers thought they could relax, the Pistons came out of halftime fired up.
Svi Mykhailiuk, who had been traded by the Lakers to Detroit, got the hot hand and poured in nine points in the third period, while Rose continued to play well. Wood and substitute guard Langston Galloway, were both +13 for the period as not only did Detroit catch up but they took the lead.
A quiet contributor for the Pistons was Bruce Brown, who in the first three quarters was an amazing +17. That meant Detroit outscored the Lakers by 17 points when Brown was on the floor.
Entering the fourth quarter, Detroit held a 79-75 lead before a stunned, sold-out Staples Center crowd. Lakers coach Frank Vogel got hit with a technical foul, trying to rev up his team.
Not wanting to be the victim of one of the biggest upsets of the season, the Lakers came out smoking for the fourth quarter.
It was not the stars like James and Davis doing the most damage, but subs like Alex Caruso (13 points), Dwight Howard and Kyle Kuzma leading the scoring.
Los Angeles held a 90-79 lead with 7:48 to go and the expected victory seemed to finally be at hand. James was taken out of the game shortly thereafter but the Pistons had him scrambling back in a few minutes later.
Led by Doumbouya and Mykhailiuk, the Pistons rallied yet again. Rose made a free throw with 4:51 remaining to give Detroit a one-point lead (92-91).
James and Davis then asserted themselves. The Pistons suffered a blow when Doumbouya fouled out with three minutes to go, hurting the already-undermanned Pistons. Still, it was just a one-point Lakers lead with 1:52 left, following a Rose three-pointer, before Davis made some big baskets at the end.
The near-miss was certainly a moral victory for the Pistons (and a real one for those who had bet on them). Coach Dwane Casey liked the fight the team showed, but also pointed out the mistakes that cost them the victory.
The Lakers blocked 20 shots, more than 25% of all the shots the Pistons took in the game. It was the largest number of blocked shots by any NBA team since November, 2001.
"“I’m excited about it,” Casey said after the game, according to Pistons web editor Keith Langlois. “It was a step in the right direction. Hard play against the top team in the league. Everything’s got to go right against the top team in the league and we played hard. We made just enough mistakes to allow them to get us. … We’re down almost seven guys with Tony out. You don’t get any awards for participation in our league, so we’ve got to learn from it and continue to grow.”"
Hope for the Future
Despite tremendous adversity, the Pistons showed they could play with the best in the NBA but it did not turn around the Detroit Pistons season.
Too many injuries, veterans wanting to move on to contending teams hurt their momentum. Having to rely on inexperienced players not used to the NBA grind derailed any playoff hopes for the Pistons. They would go 7-22 the rest of the season.
However, Detroit can draw some positive lessons from the Lakers game:
- In a one-game situation, the Pistons can rise to the occasion and play with anyone, anytime and any place.
- With Derrick Rose as a leader, Detroit will not fold its tent and go home. Three times in that game the Lakers thought they had put away the Pistons only to see them rally.
- The Pistons bench is stronger than one might suspect. Mykhaliuk and Galloway (now a free agent) gave the usually leak-proof Lakers defense a lot of problems sniping from outside. Bruce Brown might not put up big stats, but he proved very effective.
- Sekou Doumbouya showed flashes of what could be a promising future. Did he shut down LeBron James? No (few do). However, he did make himself enough of a presence where James shot under 50% in the game and missed all three three-point attempts. He also added 11 points.
There was no rematch as the game scheduled in Detroit was cancelled. However, while watching the Lakers play for the NBA championship, keep in mind that, for one night, an undermanned and weary Detroit Pistons team played right with them.