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Who needs Luka Doncic when you have the US equivalent from Newark, Arkansas, Austin Reaves? The Los Angeles Lakers guard scored a game-high 43 as his MVP-level teammate rested with a back injury, propelling LA past the Detroit Pistons 121-116.

Honestly, the game had no reason to be as close as it was in the end. The Lakers led 40-14 one basket into the second quarter courtesy of insane shotmaking (hitting 72% from the floor) and an insane amount of Pistons miscues, including having more turnovers (eight) than made baskets (six).

But the Pistons, being the Pistons, weren’t about to give up. While Detroit pulled within one point early in the fourth quarter, the Lakers led wire to wire. So while it was only marginally competitive from Detroit’s point of view, it was certainly an instructive game. Here are some of the things I learned:

1. Kevin Huerter

Kevin Huerter is going to be a critical component of the Pistons’ rotation this season. In a game where Detroit’s entire backcourt didn’t really show up to play (both Cade Cunningham and Duncan Robinson were largely no-shows until some fourth-quarter scoring), Huerter was by far the biggest bright spot for the Pistons.

It also happened to be his best game in a Detroit uniform. Huerter hit four three-pointers, scored 24 points overall, and added five rebounds, five assists, five blocks(?!) and two steals. Ever since the Pistons traded for him at the deadline last season, it was clear Huerter makes winning plays, and you were hoping he’d be able to combine that with rediscovering his 3-point shooting stroke from earlier in his career. The early returns indicate the shot might be back, as well as everything that goes with it. After tonight, he’s hitting 40% from deep this season.

2. John Collins and Paul Reed

Detroit’s starting front court simply does not work, and it will never work. For as long as Jalen Duren remains sidelined or off the floor this season, this is going to be a significant issue for the Pistons. Duren is ramping back up from a hamstring injury and will be out two more weeks. Detroit has been, and will continue to be able to weather that storm. But it ain’t pretty, and any additional time off from Duren will have me significantly worried.

Most will want to pin the blame on the newcomer John Collins, and he has certainly played worse than Reed, but I think it’s the combination that brings out the worst in both players. Each is the kind of big man that relies on the gravity from teammates that allows them to use their athleticism to create the chaos that makes them effective. With both of them on the floor, it’s two bouncy balls pinging around the floor with no semblance of a plan on how to actually get the ball to the rim. The defense is also bad, and the rebounding is even worse. It’s an ugly situation, and it was exacerbated tonight by both men getting out-physicaled by the behemoth seven-footer Walker Kessler. Kessler, the Lakers’ big offseason addition, had 12 points and 16 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end. The Lakers also dominated the Pistons in the paint, 58-46.

Again, the lion’s share of the blame goes to Collins. He’s been quite bad all season, and it’s getting less clear by the day how he’s going to turn it around and be a positive force for the Pistons. I don’t think he’s ever met a 50-50 ball he couldn’t surrender to the opposition. But the pathway to him playing well lies with sharing the floor with Duren. Get well soon, JD.

3. Austin Reaves

The Pistons were correct in trying to give Austin Reaves the bag this offseason. Detroit reportedly was ready to give the wing a max contract this offseason as the second scorer and potential missing piece in a Detroit Pistons title run. Once the Lakers believed the pending RFA had a max offer on the table, they quickly moved to get an agreement to sign him on the eve of free agency so he’d never hit the market.

Reaves was insane tonight. The degree of difficulty on his shots begged belief. He was able to create space, get balanced, and score at all three levels. It was a sight to behold, and he was by far the best player on the floor for either team tonight.

4. Daniss Jenkins

Daniss has that dog in him, especially under two scenarios: 1. There is an impending buzzer. 2. He feels like his team is getting punked. Jenkins was truly the other hero of the game behind Huerter. He hit yet another buzzer-beater tonight, and he scored a career-high 31 points. When the Pistons were down huge, Jenkins got that look in his eye, as if to say, “This is not going to happen.”

From there, Jenkins started firing away from deep, and he was hitting. In the end, he canned eight three-pointers. He was also the ONLY Pistons player to go to the free-throw line more than once in the game. Really, Jenkins is like a better version of Marcus Sasser. He’s got scoring in his blood, and he’s more of an off-guard than a point guard, despite being stuck in a point guard’s body. He’s got three inches on Sasser and better floor vision, so he’s better overall and can cosplay as a point guard better than Sass, but Jenkins works best in this Pistons lineup when he’s not running the offense.

4. The refs.

The referees love the Lakers. Nothing else needs to be said.

DETROIT — The Lakers’ minutes without Luka Dončić on the floor have been a problem they’ve yet to figure out during the first three weeks of the season.

But with the superstar guard sidelined for Sunday’s road game against the Pistons, that’s all the Lakers had available for them to kick off their road trip.

And while it got shaky at the end, the Lakers found enough answers against the league’s best defense to leave Little Caesars Arena with a victory, beating the Pistons 121-116 to improve to 9-2 on the season.

The beginning of those answers started with star guard Austin Reaves, who had his best game of the season with his backcourt co-star watching from the bench. 

Reaves scored 43 points on 14-for-27 shooting for his highest-scoring and first 40-point showing of the season.

After having a brief midgame confrontation with a courtside fan, he scored 13 points in the third quarter to keep the Lakers afloat while the Pistons came back from being down 26 points in the second quarter and 13 points at halftime. 

The Lakers got out to a 38-14 lead after forcing the Pistons to turn the ball over eight times, scoring 17 points directly off those giveaways. 

Quentin Grimes, who started in place of Dončić, also got off to an explosive start, scoring 10 points of his scoring total (12 points) in the first. 

The Pistons took advantage of Reaves being on the bench, going on a 7-0 run when the Lakers star guard subbed out with 2:30 left in the third to cut their deficit to 84-81 before Collin Sexton (17 points) made a lauyup and a pair of free throws to give the Lakers an 88-81 lead going into the fourth.

The Lakers didn’t let go from there, pulling off the wire-to-wire win despite the Pistons cutting their deficit to one midway through the fourth. 

Reaves, Sexton, Walker Kessler (12 points, 16 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocked shots) and Ziaire Williams (17 points) all made big plays late to help the Lakers secure the win.

The Lakers will play the Hawks in Atlanta Monday night to close out their back-to-back set.

The Lakers’ star guard banked in a fadeaway three-pointer. He nailed a clutch step-back with 44.5 seconds left. He trash-talked with fans.

Luka Doncic?

No, Austin Reaves.

Reaves embodied Doncic in almost every way Sunday, leading the Lakers to a 121-116 win over the Detroit Pistons as Doncic sat out with low back tightness. The Lakers replaced the guard averaging a league-high 40.1 points with Reaves’ season-high 43 points, four assists and five rebounds.

The Lakers (9-2) needed every bit of Reaves’ magic. Their 26-point second-quarter lead nearly evaporated under an avalanche of second-half turnovers and 53 combined points from Detroit bench guards Daniss Jenkins and Kevin Huerter.

Fresh off a max contract extension, Reaves has had a quiet, yet ruthlessly efficient start to the year in Doncic’s shadow. Doncic is getting most valuable player chants each time he steps to the free throw line. Reaves, averaging 25.3 points per game on 50.8% shooting from the field and 41.3% from three, has at times looked clumsy while getting comfortable with new teammates in the minutes without Doncic.

Read more:Luka Doncic's historic run jump-starts early MVP conversation

He looked comfortable in the starring role again Sunday. Reaves hit a seemingly impossible baseline fadeaway in the first quarter, flinging the ball almost over the backboard. When two fans sitting opposite the Lakers bench started chirping at Reaves, he bent down, put his hands on his knees during a stoppage of play and talked directly at them for several seconds.

Doncic, dressed in black pants and a gray jacket, took it all in from the sideline.

“Sometimes when they’re playing together, AR kind of has to take a secondary role,” said center Walker Kessler, who had 12 points and 16 rebounds, including a clutch put-back, three-point play that put the Lakers up by eight with 2:15 remaining. “But I mean, as you can see now, he’s very capable. He’s a heck of a playmaker, heck of a scorer and a competitor.”

On the front side of a back-to-back, Doncic missed his second game of the season with low back tightness, although Lakers coach JJ Redick said he didn’t anticipate it to affect Doncic significantly throughout the season.

The Slovenian superstar is averaging a league-high 40.1 points per game, but Doncic was doing more than just scoring at rates not seen since Wilt Chamberlain. His estimated on/off of 37.7 — the difference between the Lakers’ net rating when he was on the court compared to off — was the second-highest in the league, following only Victor Wembanyama’s 41.5. In addition to having the highest scoring average through nine games since Chamberlain, Doncic is the team’s second-leading rebounder at 7.8 per game and is second with 1.7 steals.

But the Lakers already showed they could compete without Doncic this season. They dominated the Clippers on Oct. 28 when he was sidelined, also with back tightness.

Just as they did against the Clippers, the Lakers needed contributions from everyone. Ziaire Williams hit four three-pointers and finished with 17 points. Collin Sexton, serving as the Lakers’ second ball-handler, had 17 points on five-of-10 shooting.

Jarred Vanderbilt’s energetic six rebounds, two assists and one block in less than six minutes during the first quarter helped lift the Lakers to a 26-point lead early in the second.

The Pistons, playing without All-NBA center Jalen Duren (hamstring), didn’t get their first points from star point guard Cade Cunningham until early in the third quarter. Instead, Jenkins nearly mounted the comeback on his own.

Jenkins, a familiar Lakers foe who scored 30 points in Detroit’s win over the Lakers here last year, scored 22 points of his career-high 31 in the first half, cutting the Lakers’ 26-point lead to 13 by halftime. He drained a three-pointer at the buzzer that injected life into the antsy home crowd. The Lakers, who have benefited from two halftime buzzer-beating heaves from Doncic this season, know what it’s like to be on the other side of that momentum swing.

Read more:Swanson: Luka Doncic can lead Lakers to a title, but only if his teammates pull their weight

Pistons fans banging inflatable thunder sticks erupted in the third quarter as Detroit ripped off an 11-0 run to close the lead to three with 1:03 remaining in the quarter. The Lakers, playing with Sexton as their primary ball-handler during the stretch, had four turnovers during the drought, including a shot clock violation after a timeout.

Reaves rested from the sideline during the slide, but Redick stayed committed to the pre-determined rotation matrix to ensure star players get their necessary breaks.

“If you start just overreacting in-game and saying ‘I gotta get this guy back in, I gotta get this guy back in,’ it’s just chaos,” Redick said. “And we’re trying to create consistency for our players.”

Redick called Reaves “Mr. Consistency” earlier this season. He had 13 points in the third quarter, including five straight on difficult fadeway jumpers that pushed the lead to 17 with 6:41 to go in the third. After his step-back three from the wing kissed off the glass and rattled through the rim, Reaves shrugged.

“It was 100% lucky,” Reaves said.

Reaves shot Doncic’s shots then talked Doncic’s talk. After hitting the dagger shot to put the Lakers up by eight with 44.5 seconds left, Reaves turned and waved goodbye directly to the two fans sitting courtside.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Spurs put together two of their finest wins during SEGABAGA road victories over Sacramento and Portland. When the NBA schedule came out, my sister and I reviewed which game that we’d want to go to, saw the airfare prices to and from Austin and San Antonio…. and concluded Sacramento made the most sense for both of us.

Some observations from an excellent night in the Golden Center:

Kings’ rookie guardDarius Acuff

The best comp that I could come up with was slightly slower and less athletic Allen Iverson with Jamal Murray’s shooting range on offense. However, he and the rest of his teammates seemed lost on most defensive possessions, which resulted in quite a few paint points for San Antonio.

(Lack of) Crowd Control

Not only were there wide swaths of the lower bowl that had empty seats, but there was entire rows in the second level that lacked humans, too. Though the Kings did themselves no favors by falling and staying behind by nearly 20 points most of the game, the ambience itself lacked the fervor of past seasons.

Things I saw in-person that I haven’t noticed on the good ole television:

• Luke Kornet seems 15-20 pounds heavier than last season.
• Domantas Sabonis tried a lot of his bull-in-a-china-shop physicality on Wembanyama in the paint – something that worked well in earlier seasons – but found it no longer works for him beyond occasionally.
• Dylan Harper (see highlights below) looked like the best guard out there.
• Wembanyama suffered his infamous face-plant during game 2 of the first-round series and turned his ankle rather gruesomely on Sabonis’ closeout tonight – so maybe I shouldn’t be going to these games in-person anymore.
• I’m sad I didn’t get video evidence of Jordan McLaughlin’s dunk attempt in the second half. It was impressive!
• Chik-Fil-A rewarded its fans with a free appetizer if a Spur missed two free throws in a row, and this might have been the biggest win tonight in Sacramento…. with the exception that fans had to claim their victory a) in the app and b) before 10 AM the next morning. I’ll take breakfast tacos anytime.
• What started as a bad omen but ultimately was a big nothing-burger: the Spurs’ rim was being repaired for over 20 minutes right after Wembanyama finished his pre-game prep, affecting the tip-off by roughly 15 minutes or so. Right before the repairs took place, I was impressed with Wembanyama’s (mostly) in-motion routine instead of just practicing stand-still jumpers:

Highlights:

The audacity AND accuracy of Stephon Castle’s re-direction here to Vassell in the first period will likely put this in the season-ending highglight rankings:

Speaking of Devin, this literally was a logo jumper late in the first quarter:

There were shades of young Tony Parker on this and-1 by Harper.

About $90 million of salary failed to box out Wembanyama on this follow slam.

Castle – for my more mature audience – is like a latter generation Dominique Wilkins with these two-footed lob jams on anybody and everybody

These simple two-man motions with Victor and a guard and shooters on the other side are good enough to win a lot of regular season games while keeping both the big man and his teammates happy. Devin’s shotmaking ability late in the shotclock is exquisite.

On a personal note, this was the first chance to watch the Spurs in-person with my sister and her two kids since my dad passed. During the last Spurs game here in Sacramento on March 17, my dad suffered his last major fall hurriedly trying to get into his TV room to watch the game. My Kings rep Gavin was kind enough to gift us post-game free throws, and Shirley credited my dad for willing her free throw into the net.

My attempt felt like a ham-fisted Shaq free throw coming out of my hands, but it also founds its way home:

Closure.

The Lakers controlled most of Sunday afternoon’s game against the Pistons, including withstanding a furious rally in the second half to pick up a big road win, 121-116.

The purple and gold were without Luka Dončić for the contest as he was ruled out on Sunday morning with lower back tightness. Still, the team set the tone from the start and jumped out to a big lead in the first.

Detroit steadily chipped away at the lead before flying back into the contest in the fourth quarter with a big run with Austin Reaves on the bench. From there, it was a tight affair to the final buzzer.

LA finished with 16 turnovers but scored 23 points off Detroit’s 13 turnovers. They also outscored the Pistons 58-46 in the paint with many of those points from Detroit coming in garbage time.

LA got off to a solid start with Matisse Thybulle stealing the ball, leading to Austin Reaves converting a layup. Thybulle was also left wide open under the basket for an easy two points. Los Angeles continued their strong start, going on an 8-0 scoring run that featured two triples from Quentin Grimes. 

Grimes and Austin Reaves combined for 14 points. 

The Lakers built a 14-point lead. Detroit was shooting 26% from the field. LA scored 14 points off the Pistons’ seven turnovers. 

An incredible quarter ended with Los Angeles getting help from each player who checked in. Sandro Mamukelashvili had five points and Ziaire Williams had eight off the bench. Grimes was in double figures with 10. 

Jarred Vanderbilt grabbed six rebounds and dished two dimes. The purple and gold were up by 24 at the end of the first.

Detroit woke up offensively to start the second period. Daniss Jenkins and Kevin Huerter combined for nine points, slowly chipping away at LA’s lead. The Pistons had taken over the momentum, shooting 42% from the field, while the Lakers sh-ot 21%. 

Los Angeles’ 26-point lead dwindled to 12. 

Williams was a bright spot for LA. With Luka Dončić out, he and Grimes were stepping up with 11 points each. Los Angeles’ suffocating defense from the first quarter had evaporated as they continued to leave Jenkins open for triples.

It was a Jenkins takeover as he ended the quarter with 22 points and was 6-7 from behind the arc. The Lakers weathered the storm enough to lead by 12 at halftime. 

Momentum reversed again with LA starting the third period, building on their lead once more on the shoulders of Reaves. Reaves scored 13 points, pushing his total to an insane 32.

Huerter tried to keep the Pistons in it with back-to-back buckets. Cade Cunningham also saw the ball go in the basket, scoring four points.

It was all Reaves, though. He helped put the Lakers up by 17 with 6:30 left in the quarter. Detroit responded with Jenkins and Duncan Robinson each draining triples. The Pistons were outscoring LA 25-23 in the quarter.

Things took an absolute turn for the worse for the purple and gold as they fell apart and allowed Detroit to go on an 11-0 scoring run.

Collin Sexton restored some order for LA, scoring four in a row to put them up by seven at the end of the third. 

The final frame was all Pistons early as they tied the game on the shoulders of Jenkins, who continued to shoot ridiculous from behind the arc. He was 8-13 from three and had 28 points.

For Los Angeles, Sexton was feeling it, scoring four points, helping put the Lakers back up. It was a three-point game with 6:59 left.

Crunch time became a back-and-forth affair as the teams traded baskets. Detroit made it a one-point game, but Williams responded by draining a triple. Jake LaRavia further extended the lead with a pair of free throws.

Robinson then made it a three-point game with 3:16 left.

The Lakers answered the call with Reaves, Kessler and Williams taking over the scoring duties, combining for 10 points, including a massive three from Reaves in the final minute.

Sexton had seemingly put the game away with free throws, but fouled Jenkins on the other end from behind the arc. Jenkins made all three free throws to make it a four-point game with 26 seconds left.

Sexton rectified the situation with two free throws. Detroit played the foul game and fouled Reaves, who then iced the win with a pair of free throws. 

Key Player Stats

Reaves finished with 41 points, five rebounds and four assists. Kessler ended with 12 points, 16 rebounds, four assists and three blocks.

Grimes pitched in with 12 points and four assists. Williams had a stellar showing off the bench with 17 points. Vanderbilt did the dirty work with 10 rebounds and three dimes. 

Mamu logged seven points. Sexton scored 17 points. 

The Lakers’ next game will be against the Atlanta Hawks on Monday at 4:00 PM PT.

You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.

DETROIT — With Luka Dončić sidelined, Austin Reaves was in the midst of having his best game of the season Sunday against the Pistons.

And he filled in for Dončić in more ways than one, exchanging words with a courtside fan amidst his explosive scoring performance. 

The Lakers star guard walked up to a male fan toward the end of the first half sitting on the baseline opposite of the Lakers’ bench, which was closest to the basket the Lakers opened the game shooting at.

Reaves bent over in the fan’s face and the two exchanged words during the stoppage of play while the Lakers were up 60-45 with just over eight seconds left in the second quarter.

It wasn’t clear why Reaves confronted the fan, or what was said during the exchange, before the game ended.

But clearly the fan said something the former Oklahoma product didn’t appreciate. 

The exchange may have lit fire under Reaves. 

Already having 19 points at halftime, he scored another 13 points in the third quarter to help the Lakers take a 88-81 lead going into the fourth.

His 32 points entering the final quarter was a season-high and his first 30-point game of the season.

The Washington Wizards face off against the Detroit Pistons tomorrow. Let’s get to it.

Game info

When: Monday, Nov. 9, 7 p.m. ET

Where: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit

How to watch: Monumental Sports Network

How to listen: The Team 980 AM, 106.7-2 FM

Injury Report

Wizards: Reece Beekman, Tristan Vukcevic, Justin Champagnie and Jamir Watkins are out. Anthony Davis is day-to-day.

Pistons: Jalen Duren is out. Isaiah Joe is day-to-day.

Pregame notes

The Wizards will play the Pistons for the second time in the 2026-27 season tomorrow. Okay, I’ll clarify. The Wizards will play the Pistons for their first regular season game tomorrow on the road, but it isn’t their first match if you include preseason games.

Washington defeated Detroit 114-108 on Oct. 10 at home though … preseason is preseason. Though the Wizards are starting out better than the last couple seasons, they are now on a three game losing streak and this is not the time for them to fall further behind.

The Pistons are 6-2 as of the time of this writing, and will have a winning record regardless of what happens with their game against the Los Angeles Lakers. At least Washington will have the benefit of not being on a back-to-back. Detroit will. We’ll see what happens.

MILWAUKEE — Mike Conley will get his first start of the season when the Celtics face the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday night. Conley, who has mostly been out of the rotation, played a season-high 11 minutes on Friday night against the Charlotte Hornets.

In his 20th NBA season, Conley is averaging career-lows across the board; he’s tallying just 3 points and 0.3 assists in 7 minutes per game across three appearances. But, on Sunday night, he’ll get a rare opportunity to see more extended minutes.

Conley, who has been a starter in the NBA for the majority of his career, told CelticsBlog before the season that he knew mentorship would be one of his important responsibilities while his on-court minutes vary.

“It’s part of the job at this stage of my career,” he said. “I understand it. I understand there’s going to be a lot of times where I don’t play. There’s going to be some times where I’m needed. There are other times where I’m just needed to be the voice for a big stretch of the season. Being comfortable with that, and being able to own that, is my role and my job.”

And, while Conley hasn’t played much so far, he has been a crucial voice in the locker room, particularly to Payton Pritchard, who has routinely asked him questions throughout the season.

“As somebody that’s looked up to Mike, [I ask him] how he thinks of the game and how he was able to create his shots and create shots for his teammates and maybe handle playing the point guard position, momentum swings,” Pritchard said. “He’s been in a lot of great environments, great playoff series. How was he able to kill in those moments and dominate the game?”

The Celtics’ starting lineup has changed quite a bit this season

The Celtics’ most popular starting lineup this season has been Derrick White, Jordan Walsh, Paul George, Jayson Tatum, and Neemias Queta. That group started Friday night in a 119-80 win over the Charlotte Hornets.

But Joe Mazzulla has tinkered with the starting lineup quite a bit; Hugo Gonzalez started 3 games in place of Walsh, while Sam Hauser and Baylor Scheierman have each gotten one start this season. Mitchell Robinson started the first five games of the season before Queta established himself as the team’s starting center.

The three guys who have mostly found themselves out of the regular rotation are Conley, Chris Cenac Jr., and Ron Harper Jr. Cenac Jr. is currently with the Maine Celtics, and Conley will get his first start of the season.