By Redacción LAMomentum
DETROIT — Austin Reaves scored a season-high 43 points and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Detroit Pistons 121-116 on Sunday night at Little Caesars Arena, winning without Luka Doncic.
Reaves shot 14 of 27 from the field, 4 of 6 from three-point range and a perfect 11 of 11 from the free-throw line, adding five rebounds and four assists in his first 40-point game of the season. His fadeaway three-pointer with about 44.5 seconds left put the Lakers ahead 112-104, and he waved goodbye to a courtside fan as the shot fell.
Doncic, who leads the Lakers at 40.1 points per game, sat out with lower-back tightness. In his place, Quentin Grimes started and scored 12 points.
The Lakers jumped out to a 38-14 lead in the first quarter, took a 61-48 lead into halftime and were up 88-81 entering the fourth. Detroit refused to go away, cutting the deficit to one point three times in the final quarter, but Los Angeles answered every run.
Ziaire Williams and Collin Sexton each scored 17 points for the Lakers, and Walker Kessler added 12 points and 16 rebounds.
Daniss Jenkins led Detroit with a career-high 31 points, including eight three-pointers, and Kevin Huerter scored 24.
The win is the Lakers’ fifth in a row. Los Angeles is now 9-2 and visits the Atlanta Hawks on Monday.
Sources: Reuters and The Associated Press, via theScore.
