Austin Reaves scores 43 to carry the Lakers without Doncic
The Lakers led by 26 points and held on for a 121-116 win at Little Caesars Arena, with Walker Kessler adding 12 points and 16 rebounds to Reaves' night
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Detroit trailed by 26 in the second quarter, closed to 109-104 in the final minute and was answered by the least defensible shot of the night, a one-legged, off-balance Reaves three that sealed a 121-116 Lakers win.
Filling in for the league's hottest player
The absence was the story going in: Doncic came into Sunday averaging 45 points over a four-game winning run that had left the Lakers at 8-2.
Reaves finished with 43 points on 14-of-27 shooting, 4-of-6 from three and a perfect 11-of-11 from the free-throw line, adding five rebounds, four assists and one turnover in 36 minutes.
He came into the game averaging 23.0 points during that stretch, so the request was not a miracle, only that the second option become the first for one night.
The night carried a Detroit subplot: the Pistons held the 42nd pick with a plan for Reaves in 2021, he turned it down to join Los Angeles as a free agent, and Detroit drafted Isaiah Livers instead.
Walker Kessler, who finished with 12 points and 16 rebounds, said Reaves sometimes accepts a secondary role when Doncic plays and that this performance showed how capable he is.
109-104 and a terrible shot that stayed up
The Lakers led by as many as 26 points in the second quarter, held the advantage for 97 percent of the game and never trailed, with no lead changes recorded.
Detroit closed to 109-104 with under a minute to play after the Lakers could not get their offense into rhythm, setting up the final sequence.
The dagger was not designed: a flipped-up, one-legged three from Reaves that he described afterward as a lucky attempt that simply fell.
Notably, Detroit's answer came from elsewhere: Jenkins with 31 points on eight made threes, Huerter with 24 and five blocks, neither enough to change who held the lead.
Detroit made 19 of 48 three-pointers against the Lakers' 11 of 28 and finished with 27 assists and 10 steals, but never led at any point.
The rest of the line
Kessler collected seven offensive rebounds among his 16 boards and blocked three shots, while Jarred Vanderbilt grabbed 10 rebounds in 14 minutes.
Ziaire Williams scored 17 points on 4-of-8 from three and Collin Sexton added 17 on 7-of-8 free throws, two more names beside Reaves, Kessler and Grimes in double figures.
Cade Cunningham finished with 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting, eight assists and four turnovers for a minus-15 rating.
Beyond that, Detroit owned eight offensive rebounds from Reed and 11 from Thompson and still lost the glass by a single board.
In the wider picture, both teams were back on the floor on Monday night: the Lakers in Atlanta at 9-2, the Pistons at home against Washington at 6-3.
Editor's take: Winning through absences is how a 9-2 team keeps climbing; Los Angeles found one answer on Sunday and it scored 43.
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