With Luka Dončić sidelined by lower back tightness, Austin Reaves scored a season-high 43 points to carry the Los Angeles Lakers to a 121-116 win over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday at Little Caesars Arena. Los Angeles built a lead of as many as 26 points before Detroit, powered by a career night from Daniss Jenkins off the bench, stormed back to within two in the fourth quarter. The Lakers steadied down the stretch to improve to 9-2, pulling even with the Philadelphia 76ers for the NBA's best record, while the Pistons fell to 6-3.

Final Score

Los Angeles went to 9-2 on the season while Detroit fell to 6-3.

How It Happened

It was a 39-14 first quarter for the Lakers, who outshot 6-22 and took the ball eight times from Detroit, seven of which resulted in Lakers points. The Pistons hit a Kevin Huerter three in the second quarter that set up a 10-2 run, pushing the deficit to 62-48 at the half, but managed to bring in the win in the final 34-23.

Los Angeles held the reins to get the second half going. Reaves netted 13 in the third quarter, and a Reaves 3 with 6:42 to go in the quarter extended the lead to 78-61. Soon the Lakers' lead began to grow, eventually reaching as much as 26 points — but the Pistons bench blew up. Jenkins went on to put the game away from three with Detroit coming back to close the score gap all the way to 88-86 in a few minutes with 10:56 in the fourth quarter.

This was just as close as Detroit would come. Trusting their depth to ride out the storm, the Lakers "stayed calm" and came back away in the final 10 minutes to close out the 121-116 victory, Reaves said.

Austin Reaves Fills In for an Injured Dončić

Reaves delivered the best scoring night of his season in Dončić's absence, finishing with 43 points on 14-of-27 shooting, including 4-of-6 from three and a perfect 11-of-11 from the free-throw line, to go with 5 rebounds and 4 assists against a single turnover. It's the kind of workload the Pistons reportedly wanted from Reaves themselves — Detroit was said to have pursued him in free agency with an eye toward pairing him alongside Cade Cunningham before the Lakers re-signed him to a four-year, $185 million extension.

Dončić, the NBA's leading scorer at 40.1 points per game through nine games, sat out the first game of a Lakers back-to-back with back tightness after being listed questionable. "We got a lot of guys that can play basketball," Reaves said after the win, crediting a roster that could absorb the loss of its best player for a night. He added that the group had to "weather the storm sometimes" as Detroit's rally built late.

Daniss Jenkins' Career Night Fuels Detroit's Rally

On 9-of-17 shooting, including eight 3-pointers, Jenkins went 0-for-0 from the outside as he collected 5 rebounds and volunteered 4 assists on the night to kick off Detroit's turnaround. Kevin Huerter scored 24 points and dished out five rebounds and five assists on the very bench that helped to wipe out a 26-point deficit.

Cade Cunningham was not his usual self at all in scoring, going 6-of-15 from the field with only 14 points and dished out 8 assists, but he would not score until the 9:00 mark of the third quarter when he missed all four of his first-half attempts, and took 5 fouls with a bigger Lakers frontcourt. Paul Reed hauled in a double-double off the bench with 8 points, and 10 boards in a game that was largely deadlocked with no player able to make any highlight plays.

Full Box Score

Los Angeles Lakers — 121

Detroit Pistons — 116

The individual stat lines for the rest of both rosters were not available in recap coverage at the time of this writing; grab the full box score from the NBA.com.

What's Next

The Lakers end their two-game losing streak to the Atlanta Hawks in the only game action of their week on Monday with a bid to go unbeaten in November. Detroit's next game wasn't reported in available sources as of this draft - find Detroit's upcoming games' here on Sports OKBet's schedule coverage.

Betting Angle

Detroit had Jalen Duren still sidelined and Las Vegas had a 6.5-point lead with a total of 211.5. Los Angeles was able to cover this number early, taking a 26-point lead, but the final combined 237 points flew past the scoreboard and L.A.'s 5-point victory margin gave bettors the Lakers a backdoor cover that was almost completely covered by the Lakers' bench. It's a stark reminder that point spreads and scores can have two entirely different narratives. Review Sports OKBet's current NBA odds for the changes to the two team's lines prior to their upcoming contests.

Responsible Gambling

This matchup at the buzzer is precisely why spread betting should not be believed as more of a safer bet as the Lakers dominated much of the game making it look much easier. Before you place a bet, set a wagering limit and a self-exclusion plan, and adhere to it, regardless of how comfortable a lead appears in the third quarter; PAGCOR's responsible gaming resources are available for every bettor who wants a wagering limit or a self-exclusion plan.

Conclusion

The win was a next-man-up, a next-man-up statement for the Lakers in a game that was run by Austin Reaves in Dončić's absence as the power forward scored a season-high 43 points on the night in Los Angeles' 9-2 victory over the Pistons, tied for the NBA's best record. Detroit will hope a late-game surge from this fourth quarter is a sign of life as they go down, but a late-night lackluster performance by Cade Cunningham meant there was too much to make up for for a deep Lakers squad.

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