DETROIT — The Lakers had led by 26. By the fourth quarter, that lead was down to one, and the NBA’s leading scorer was on the bench in street clothes.
Austin Reaves took it from there. He hit an off-balance 3-pointer with 46 seconds left, waved toward the courtside seats and closed out a season-high 43-point night at the free-throw line as the Lakers beat the Detroit Pistons 121-116 on Sunday at Little Caesars Arena.
The Lakers improved to 9-2 with their fifth straight win and are 2-0 without Luka Dončić, who missed his second game of the season with lower back tightness.
Reaves went 14 of 27 from the field, made four of six 3-pointers and hit all 11 free throws. He added five rebounds and four assists and committed just one turnover against the NBA’s top-ranked defense.
“I thought AR’s decision-making, his aggression, his ability to just consistently touch the paint and get downhill was fantastic tonight,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said.
Quentin Grimes scored 10 of his 12 points in the first quarter, when L.A. shot 16 of 23 and built a 38-14 lead.
The Lakers stretched it to 40-14 early in the second before Detroit’s bench brought the Pistons back. Daniss Jenkins scored 22 of his career-high 31 points in the first half, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer that cut the deficit to 61-48.
Reaves scored 13 in the third quarter, but Detroit closed within three late in the period. The Pistons had a chance to tie it with 9:14 left in the fourth, when Cade Cunningham missed the second of two free throws to leave L.A. ahead 90-89.
“We just stayed calm,” Reaves told Spectrum SportsNet. “You can get sped up in those types of moments, but we trust what we got on this team.”
Walker Kessler helped rebuild the lead with a huge putback and a free throw to give L.A. an eight point lead with 2:15 left.
He finished with 12 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks, while Collin Sexton and Ziaire Williams each scored 17 off the bench. Kevin Huerter added 24 for Detroit, and Cunningham finished with 14 points and eight assists.
The Lakers visit the Atlanta Hawks on Monday to close out the back-to-back.