November 4, 2012Game 3: Kobe, Dwight come close but don't win game for LakersPistons @ Lakers (101-95)
Drummond in pain with 5 minutes left in the gameGreat defense in the 2nd quarter by the Pistons to go to the locker room up 11 points at the half, only to watch Drummond fall to the ground with 5 minutes left in the 4th, holding his ankle and being in clear pain. Drummond would later be diagnosed with a Severe Ankle Sprain that's going to keep him out of the court for 2-4 weeks. It's quite the setback for the rookie, who showed great fire for the second game in a row. Lakers never got closer than 4, even after a scary 9-0 run as only a minute was left in the game, and Pistons got the win, leading the Lakers to a 1-3 record so far, after their loss to the Clippers.
Pistons Key Players- Brandon Knight, despite our recommendations, still fired up 9 threes. This time, however, he got 5 of them to fall. He actually was 3-4 from beyond the arc in just the 1st quarter. He started hot, never cooled off, and finished the game with 27-5-5.
- Singler got buckets. Not quite as efficiently (.444 FG%, .333 3P%), but 21 points is still 21 points. 1 block and 1 steal along with everything else.
- Andre Drummond unfortunately will be missing up to 4 weeks worth of games as we noted, and the Pistons are going to miss him. 12 points in 6-7 shooting, 8 rebounds (4 offensive), a steal, a block and 2 assists. Still, that's production that the Pistons will hopefully make up for with Monroe's return.
Good playmaking- Brandon Knight with 5 assists over no turnovers, Jose Calderon with 6 assists over one turnover. Best AST% however, came from Slava Kravtsov, who in 10 minutes managed to get 3 assists (along with 4 boards, a steal and a block). He saw he couldn't go up against Dwight Howard's dominating defense, but managed to still find a way to help the team. That shows maturity from one of the guys that will most probably get some more minutes in Drummond's absence.
No shows- Charlie Villanueva was a DNP-CD, Maggette and English got 14 and 6 minutes each, but neither of them showed anything for it. Luckily, the rest of the team played quite well.
Won by the details- You wouldn't know the Pistons played good defense by looking at the box score. Sure, they had one more steal and one more block than the Lakers, but the Lakers performed better from both inside and outside of the arc, as well as at the free throw line. Percentages aren't enough though, as the Pistons in the end had 2 more field goals, and 6 more 3-pointers than the Lakers.
Lakers Key Players- Jordan Hill had his way with the Pistons squad before Dwight Howard did his thing in the 4th. Unluckily for him and his team, it wasn't enough. 22 points, 4 offensive boards, 1 steal, 6 free throws over 13 shot attempts for .857 from the line.
- Kobe was Kobe. 28 points on .600 from the floor, 5 assists, 2 rebounds and a block.
- Pau Gasol had a quiet game, but still produced well. 10 points on 5 of 6 shooting, a block, a steal and 6 boards.
- Dwight Howard with the double-double, 13 and 15 of the team's 45 boards (he grabbed an astonishing .220 of all the available rebounds). However, he didn't start scoring until the 4th (actually until after Drummond was injured), hence his 6 of 15 from the floor which made for .400 FG%. Pistons also did well to put him at the line, where he missed 5 of 6.
Box Score