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The Los Angeles Lakers have only lost six times this season, with their most recent defeat coming at the hands of the 5-16 Detroit Pistons, co-owners of the worst record in the NBA. Given that said loss was so embarrassing that head coach Frank Vogel responded by tightening up his rotation as the Lakers rattled off three wins in a row since, it’s a fair bet that the purple and gold won’t want to allow the Motor City to get a season sweep when they host them on Saturday.
How the Lakers come out in this game will be the main thing to watch for. Even if there was context to why they lost last week — Anthony Davis was out, it was the second night of a back-to-back after a close game the night before, they were in the doldrums of a road trip, etc. — none of it really excuses a defeat to the worst team in the NBA. The Lakers are better than that, and it would not be a surprise to see them want to remind the Pistons and the rest of the league of that fact.
Aiding the Lakers in their efforts to do that is that the Pistons will be playing out their own second night of a back-to-back, as they will face the Suns in Phoenix on Friday night. With the Lakers having Friday off, everything is pointing in the direction of this being a pretty easy win for them. Especially if they go right at Detroit early.
We’ll see if they do so when they host the Pistons at Staples Center on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. PT. Given the opponent, it should not be a surprise that this game will only be televised locally on Spectrum SportsNet.
Notes and Updates
- The Lakers’ injury report is mostly the same as it’s been lately, despite a slight downgrade for Davis since last game.
After being probable last game, AD has been downgraded back to questionable pic.twitter.com/T8dbVs5UU3
— Harrison Faigen (@hmfaigen) February 6, 2021
- The Lakers are still the favorites to win the title this year.
- How are they doing it? Well, with their stars of course, and a little help from one other dynamic duo and a dose of energy from Dennis Schröder.
For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.