Confident that their worst days are behind them, the Los Angeles Lakers will kick off a favorable part of the schedule when they play host to the Detroit Pistons on Monday.
The Lakers have been rejuvenated while on a three-game winning streak, with consecutive road victories over the Sacramento Kings to raise their collective spirit exponentially.
Los Angeles has put together a string of wins for the first time since a six-game winning streak from Nov. 8-19. What followed was a 3-8 stretch that raised questions about their durability with a veteran roster and their direction under new head coach JJ Redick.
Healthier and better-rested now, the Lakers begin a stretch where 10 of their next 13 games are at home. They built momentum for the run with a 113-100 victory over the Kings on Thursday followed by a 103-99 win at Sacramento on Saturday.
With his 40th birthday approaching Dec. 30, James looks revitalized after a busy part of the schedule appeared to take its toll. A foot injury that cost him a pair of games earlier this month didn’t help.
A game-high 32 points to go along with seven rebounds and six assists Saturday seemed to show that James’ batteries are fully charged now.
“I just wanted to seize the opportunity,” James said. “We had an opportunity to get two quality wins on the road in a hostile environment against a really good team, a team that we have not had much success with over the last couple of years. And I just tried to seize the opportunity and breathe energy into my teammates.”
D’Angelo Russell scored 20 points off the bench on Saturday, Austin Reaves had 16 and Anthony Davis added 15 rebounds, although he again struggled with late-game free-throw shooting that nearly proved costly before Los Angeles made a late-game stop on defense.
The Pistons arrive in Los Angeles after scoring a season high in points during a 133-125 road victory over the Phoenix Suns on Saturday. Cade Cunningham scored 28 points with 13 assists, while Jaden Ivey scored 20 points with eight rebounds and eight assists.
Ivey had missed the previous two games with a knee injury.
“I thought he was great,” Cunningham said of Ivey. “I literally just told him that. We missed that spark that he has. He started off with a few offensive rebounds that got us going, made a ton of great reads. He was everywhere.”
The Pistons scored 41 points in the first quarter to establish a 15-point lead, then led the rest of the way. Detroit will try for consecutive victories for the first time in more than a month following wins at Toronto and Washington on Nov. 15 and 17.
While the Pistons’ offense was balanced at Phoenix with seven players scoring in double figures, their defense forced 19 turnovers that were turned into 34 points.
The victory came two days after a disappointing 126-119 loss at home to the Utah Jazz, who had lost 12 of their previous 14 games.
