Austin Reaves Scored 43 Without Luka, and the Lakers Held Off Detroit

DETROIT

The Lakers went into Little Caesars Arena on Sunday night without the highest-scoring player in basketball, and Austin Reaves made sure it did not matter until the very end. Then he handled the end, too. Reaves scored 43 points, a season high, and Los Angeles beat the Detroit Pistons 121-116 for its fifth straight win.

Luka Dončić was ruled out earlier Sunday with low back tightness, the Associated Press reported. He had been averaging 45 points, nine rebounds and eight assists over his last four games, so the absence was not a footnote. Reaves picked up the load on his own line: 14-of-27 from the field, 4-of-6 from three, 11-of-11 at the line, five rebounds and four assists in 37 minutes. He had come into the night averaging 23.5 points a game, and this was his first 30-point game of the season.

The first quarter was a runaway

Los Angeles led 38-14 after one quarter and 40-14 a basket into the second. The Lakers shot 16-of-23 in the first and made five of their eight threes, and at the 40-14 peak they were shooting 72 percent from the floor. Detroit coughed the ball up eight times in the opening stretch, against only six made baskets, and Los Angeles turned those mistakes into 17 points.

Detroit's starters never found the game. Not one of them scored in double figures through three quarters. The bench nearly stole it anyway. Daniss Jenkins, a two-way guard playing the game of his life, scored a career-high 31 points in 32 minutes off the bench — 9-of-17 from the field, eight made threes, 5-of-5 at the line — and beat the halftime buzzer with a three that cut the Los Angeles lead to 61-48. He finished plus-22, the best mark in the game. Kevin Huerter added 24 off the bench, and five blocked shots besides. Jenkins and Huerter outscored Detroit's entire starting lineup 44-30 through three quarters.

Detroit's comeback ran on the three-point line. The Pistons took 48 threes and made 19 of them, and Jenkins accounted for eight on his own. It still never got them in front. Detroit's largest lead all night was zero — the Lakers led wire to wire, and everything the Pistons did for three quarters only decided how close the finish would be.

Detroit kept coming back

Reaves banked in a three with 6:41 left in the third quarter to stretch the lead to 78-61, Reuters reported, and he scored 13 points in the period. Detroit still closed the quarter on the Lakers' heels. Three straight baskets off consecutive Los Angeles turnovers fueled a 13-2 run that finished with four straight layups and cut the margin to 84-81, and Los Angeles helped the whole thing along with 16 turnovers on the night. Collin Sexton's layup and free throws restored order, barely: 88-81 heading into the fourth.

The fourth quarter was one possession, over and over. Detroit got within a single point three times. Cade Cunningham went to the line with 9:14 left and a chance to tie it at 90, and missed the second free throw. Reaves answered late the way he had all night. He found Ziaire Williams for a three that made it 100-96. The lead was back to six with 3:32 left, and a Walker Kessler three-point play made it 107-99 with 2:15 to go. Reaves hit an off-balance three with 46 seconds left for 112-104, and after Huerter's layup cut it to 119-116 with 2.6 seconds to play, Reaves made two free throws with 2.2 seconds left and ended it.

Cunningham's 14 points came on 6-of-15 shooting, a quiet night for the Pistons' star. Walker Kessler gave Los Angeles 12 points and 16 rebounds, and Williams and Sexton scored 17 apiece off the Lakers' bench. Los Angeles shot 50 percent as a team and outscored Detroit 58-46 in the paint.

Previously Staff's read: Detroit walked in allowing 100.3 points a game, the best defensive number in the NBA, and the Lakers put 121 on them in their own building without Dončić. One game in November does not settle what this team is in May. It settles something smaller and still real: against the league's best defense, on the road, the Lakers' second guard can be the best player on the floor for 37 minutes and then make the last plays himself. Teams that win in the spring usually have exactly that in reserve.

The win moved Los Angeles to 9-2, first in the West, and snapped a four-game losing streak against Detroit. The Pistons fell to 6-3, back-to-back losses for the first time this season after a 6-1 start. The Lakers finish their back-to-back Monday night in Atlanta. Detroit hosts Washington on Monday. The NBA hub carries the full standings and the rest of Sunday's finals.

Game Center: Los Angeles Lakers at Detroit Pistons — full box score and play-by-play