The intelligence report was clear. The Pistons (25-8) were second in the league in points in the paint. They were third in points without turnovers and third in turnovers forced.
The Lakers played right into Detroit's hands.
Detroit scored 74 points in the paint, the Lakers' most all season, and took advantage of 21 Lakers turnovers to score 30 points. Entering the game, the Pistons' 58.1 points in the paint per game trailed only league-leading Oklahoma City's 58.2.
“We have to match their physical characteristics exactly,” said Luka Doncicwho led the Lakers with 30 points and 11 assists but had eight turnovers, his second-most in a game this season. “That's the whole point. We have to match the way they play.”
Last week, the Lakers faced Phoenix and Houston, two teams similar in style to Detroit. The Suns averaged 59 points in their two wins over the Lakers in December, compared to 44 points in the Lakers' Dec. 14 win. The Rockets scored 68 paint points on Christmas Day.
The Pistons took more shots in the paint (37) than the Lakers (34) and kept their shooting percentage at a stratospheric level as 3-point shooting began to decline. Detroit, which has shot 34.7% from three this season, shot 11 of 24 (45.8%) from beyond the arc on Tuesday.
“We had a game plan,” James said after the Lakers allowed a season-high 63.2 percent of Detroit's field goals. “We understand that they're probably No. 1 in scoring in the paint in the NBA. They get a lot of their points off the fast break and in the paint. So we knew we were going to try to make them miss from outside, and they scored tonight, which is fine.”
Marcus Sasser made four of six from three, all in the second half, and finished with 19 points off the bench. Cade Cunningham had 27 points and 11 assists for the Pistons.
