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The Los Angeles Lakers were headed for disaster Sunday night, down 15 points entering the fourth quarter against a Detroit Pistons team that was 4-11 coming into the game. Not only that, but LeBron James had been ejected in the third quarter after striking Detroit’s Isaiah Stewart over the right eye while the two were looking to rebound a free-throw attempt, a flagrant-2 foul that angered Stewart and led to a heated altercation on the court.
Instead of caving, the Lakers rallied behind clutch performances from Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook, outscoring the Pistons 37-17 in the final frame to pull out a 121-116 victory and move to 9-8 on the season. A potentially dispiriting loss was turned into a satisfying win, a feat made all the more impressive with James unavailable for the fourth-quarter rally.
The game’s big incident kicks off our latest news round-up.
Davis, Vogel React to James’ Ejection
While James’ strike on Stewart was significant—the 20-year-old center was visibly bloodied and needed five stitches after the game—his teammates don’t believe it was an intentionally dirty play.
“Everyone in the league knows LeBron’s not a dirty guy,” Davis said, per ESPN.com’s Dave McMenamin. “In fact, when he knew he hit him, as soon as he did it, he looked back at him like, ‘Oh, my bad. I didn’t try to do it.'”
Lakers head coach Frank Vogel didn’t dispute the referee’s decision to call James’ strike a flagrant 2, but felt it was incidental.
“[James] had an elbow [from Stewart] to the rib cage, which was a foul and he was trying to shed the contact,” Vogel said, per McMenamin. “And had incidental contact that was obviously enough for a flagrant 2.”
Stewart clearly felt otherwise as he tried to confront James several times in the aftermath He was given two technical fouls and was also ejected from the game.
It’s entirely possible that James gets suspended. This was only his second game back after an abdominal strain forced him to miss a couple of weeks of action. He had 10 points and five assists before the ejection. The Lakers have struggled this season to form a cohesive unit on the floor and figure out their rotations James potentially missing more time will only set that project back.
Davis’ Ideal Role a Work in Progress
A major reason why the Lakers were able to overcome James’ early exit was Davis, who did a whole lot of scoring and a good bit of everything else Sunday. The eight-time All-Star tallied 30 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, five blocks and four steals in the winning effort.
Two of those blocks came with about a minute left in the game, as Davis denied Cade Cunningham’s attempts to cut down the Lakers’ slim three-point lead. Davis then scored on a Westbrook assist immediately after to put the Lakers up five.
It was Davis’ best night of the young season, and came as the Lakers moved DeAndre Jordan back into the starting lineup, shifting Davis to the power forward spot to start. Davis’ best lineup spot is something the Lakers have been going back-and-forth on this season. Vogel has mostly been favoring Davis starting at the five as of late, and believes the lineup can work if the Lakers move more off the ball.
“Yeah, if we move (laughs). If we move, the spacing looks great,” Vogel said, per LakersNation.com’s Ron Gutterman. “The ball doesn’t move and players don’t move, it doesn’t matter what kind of space you have.”
“We’re playing one-on-one and we just got to get the ball moving a little bit more, and when we do it, we look great. And we’ve seen that we can do it. Just got to do it longer and obviously for 48 minutes.”
James also acknowledged the lineup choices are still very much a work in progress, but felt the team is getting closer to figure it out, telling Gutterman “it probably will happen over the course of the next few weeks as we get close to pretty much a fourth of the season.”
So Vogel went back to Davis starting at the four spot on Sunday night, with Jordan and backup center Dwight Howard getting 13 minutes apiece. For three quarters, it didn’t seem to make much of a difference, as the Lakers looked headed for another dysfunctional loss. But Davis used every ounce of his talent to erase some of the concerns, and as it turns out his late heroics described above came with him at the five spot.
In the end, it’s another night of tape for Vogel and his staff to look at, but it seems like it will take some more time to figure out exactly when its best to deploy the bigger and smaller lineups.
Trevor Ariza, Austin Reaves Injury Update
Prior to Sunday night’s win, Vogel gave updates on two injured Lakers, rookie Austin Reaves and 36-year-old Trevor Ariza.
“Austin feels really good. If it was up to him, he’d be back already,” Vogel said, per Silver Screen and Roll’s Jacob Rude. “He’s following the medical recommendation for how much time they want to wait for him. And Trevor’s still a ways away. Austin’s a lot closer.”
Reaves had been something of a surprise contributor before straining his hamstring earlier in November. He’s averaging 6.1 points and 2 rebounds in 21.3 minutes per game, with his youth and hustle a welcome addition to the Lakers aging roster. His return will give the Lakers some much-needed wing depth and boost on the defensive end of the court.
Ariza, who signed with he Lakers after spending last season in Miami, has yet to play after having surgery on his right ankle in early October, which was expected to keep him out at least two months. Vogel didn’t get too specific, but it seems like the initial timeline might hold and Ariza is eyeing a December return.
Vogel seems keen on getting him on the court, telling Rude “I have a role carved for what I envision for him.”
Ariza, a Los Angeles native, averaged 9.5 points per game on 35 percent shooting from beyond the arc with the Heat last season. He also won a championship with the Lakers in 2009.
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