Andre Drummond finished with 24 points, 17 rebounds, three steals and four blocks without playing any of the fourth quarter, as the Detroit Pistons raced out to a 121-102 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
"Tonight just wasn't good for us," Larry Nance Jr. said after the game. "We just got to be better. The whole game was unacceptable."
The Lakers committed 12 turnovers before the intermission, but somehow, LA only trailed by six points at that stage. Then, the dreaded third quarter came about. LA has been notoriously poor in the third quarter, and Wednesday night in Detroit was no exception.
The Pistons out-scored the Lakers 36-20 in the third period, turning a six-point contest into a 22-point blowout. In the fourth quarter, that lead popped up to 28 points before the final score settled on the 19-point difference.
For the Pistons, six players scored in double figures and the team and the team won the turnover and rebounding battles, to point out a few key areas of emphasis. LA finished the night with 21 turnovers in a sloppy showing.
Lakers guard D'Angelo Russell had a particularly off night, as the 20-year-old finished with more turnovers, three, than points, two. Russell only attempted two shots and did not appear to have the right type of energy for the occasion.
"(Russell) looked a little tired," Lakers coach Luke Walton said after the game. "At shootaround even today, I thought he looked a little tired. But you got to play through that. It's the NBA. There are a lot of game, I get it, there's long road trips, but you got to find a way to fight through that."
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While the Lakers' second year lottery pick struggled on Wednesday, the team's rookie lottery pick provided one of the few bright spots for the visitors. Brandon Ingram scored 15 points on 6-10 shooting to go along with five assists and four rebounds in 27 minutes. Ingram hit three of his four attempts from long range and appeared to be in a good shooting rhythm, though early foul trouble limited his influence on the game.
Next, the Lakers wrap up their five-game road trip on Friday night in Milwaukee.
Notes: Larry Nance Jr. finished the night with six points and seven rebounds in 19 minutes, ending his two-game streak of double-doubles. Nance's minutes dropped due Julius Randle's return to health. Randle played 30 minutes and finidhed with 17 points and six rebounds.
All quotes courtest of Spectrum SportsNet
