Strong starts from both the Los Angeles Lakers and Detroit Pistons make for an intriguing early season matchup among a pair of decorated franchises.
Trying to bounce back from just their second loss of the young season, the host Pistons aim to keep the Lakers from recording a fifth consecutive victory Sunday night.
While Detroit leads the Central Division with six wins through its first eight games, Los Angeles entered play Saturday tied for the NBA’s best start at 8-2.
The Lakers have averaged 127.3 points while going 4-0 in November. On Friday, Los Angeles star Luka Doncic had a season-high 53 points to help his team overcome a slow start and outscore the Portland Trail Blazers 34-15 in the third quarter, en route to a 124-118 home victory.
“We all want good results,” said coach JJ Redick, whose club is coming together quickly following LeBron James’ departure.
“This is going to be a long process, and it’s going to take time for us to become a great basketball team.”
Doncic has averaged 40.1 points on the season, and 45.0 during four games this month while shooting 52.4% overall and 25 of 55 (45.5%) from 3-point range.
“It’s obviously a long season,” said Doncic, who also has averaged 9.0 rebounds in November. “We’re 10 games in. We’ve got 72 left. As long as we’re winning, I’m good.
“Hopefully, it continues, but you never know.”
Los Angeles is 3-1 on the road, with Doncic averaging 43.0 points and shooting 42.6% from beyond the arc while playing in three of those road games.
Doncic has averaged 35.1 points, 9.5 assists and 8.0 rebounds during 10 career games versus Detroit. The Pistons, though, have won the last four meetings against the Lakers, two of those with Doncic on the floor.
Detroit won six of its first seven games this season before falling 112-106 at home to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday. Duncan Robinson scored 27 points and Cade Cunningham had 26 with 11 assists for the Pistons, who rallied from a 56-41 halftime deficit to make things interesting late, before falling short against the 76ers.
Though the Pistons have been solid out of the gate, they rank in the bottom half of the league averaging 111.1 points and continue to deal with some collective inconsistency on the offensive end.
A hamstring injury that’s limited key starter Jalen Duren to just two games this season hasn’t helped matters. However, there is plenty of optimism with the overall effort that Pistons have shown thus far.
“Obviously, getting whole will be important for us, but I love the competition,” Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff said.
“I love the competition against good teams. You know our guys are going to scrap and battle.”
Cunningham has averaged 27.3 points in the last four games, but continues to struggle from 3-point range, where he’s 18 of 55 (32.7%) this season. Cunningham has posted a double-double for points and assists in each of his last three games versus Los Angeles.
Robinson, meanwhile, has totaled 51 points on 16-of-23 shooting in Detroit’s last two contests.
