Austin Reaves explodes for 43 points, leading Luka-less Lakers to win over Pistons

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.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....