The Los Angeles Lakers have gotten their season off to a solid start, holding a 4-2 record through the first six games against a very competitive slate of opponents. They head into a cross-conference clash against the Detroit Pistons, who have started the season 2-5 and look much better than the 14-68 record they earned last season.
Despite the Pistons encouraging positives over the start of the season, the Lakers are considered the prohibitive favorites in this clash. Even with the questions around the Lakers, their status as favorites in this clash is well-earned. There are significant areas where the Lakers fare much better than the Pistons and capitalizing on those areas will be key for the Lakers in this clash.
Here are three advantages that the Lakers have over the Pistons ahead of their early-November clash.
The Lakers Are A Much Better Offensive Team
The Pistons have taken a step forward offensively this season after adding veteran scorers such as Tim Hardaway Jr. and Tobias Harris to accompany the individual leap Cade Cunningham is making as the franchise point guard. However, the Lakers have started this season as a stronger offense than the Pistons even after their moves.
Through the start of the 24-25 season, the Lakers have a 117.0 offensive rating compared to the Pistons’ 108.5 rating. They’re averaging 118.3 points per game while the Pistons have. -13.3 differential with their 105.0 points per game this season (Lakers are 8th, Pistons are 29th in the league). Even the presence of a floor general like Cunningham hasn’t been able to outmatch the Lakers solid rotation of playmakers like LeBron James, Austin Reaves, and D’Angelo Russell, with the Lakers averaging 27.0 assists per game compared to the Pistons’ 22.7 assists per game.
JJ Redick has introduced new offensive philosophies into the Lakers, primarily aiming to make the team a threat from deep. That aspect of his philosophy hasn’t materialized, with the Lakers taking the least amount of threes in the NBA and converting at a 35.0% rate. The Pistons are converting at a similar 35.1% (35.4 3PA per game) rate, matching them up in one aspect while being comprehensively blown away in most other offensive metrics so far this season.
The Lakers Are Unstoppable In The Paint
After seeing the three-point rate of the Lakers, it’s fair to question why they’re such a markedly improved offense in comparison to the Pistons. This differential is primarily coming in the paint, with the Lakers establishing themselves as one of the best paint offenses in the NBA vaulted ahead by Anthony Davis‘ MVP start to the season.
The Lakers are averaging 55.7 points per game in the paint, the highest number in the league. Detroit ranks at the opposite end of the table, with their 31.3 points per game in the paint making them the worst paint offense in the league. Third-year center Jalen Duren is averaging 8.7 points and 10.0 rebounds this season, but it doesn’t compare to Davis’ hot start to the season with averages of 31.8 points and 12.0 rebounds per game.
LeBron James is still a major paint threat himself while the Lakers are running active plays to finish around the rim with other players like Rui Hachimura as well. The Pistons do not have the versatility to play in a similar high-octane fashion in the paint and that’ll arguably be the biggest advantage in the Lakers favor for this matchup.
Major Talent Disparity
We cannot move forward without acknowledging the elephant in the room, which is that these rosters aren’t comparable on paper with the talents they employ. The Lakers top-two of LeBron James and Anthony Davis alone would make them favorites against this Pistons team, with Cade Cunningham the only real on-ball offensive threat the Lakers need to worry about.
While young talents like Jaden Ivey and Ausar Thompson are trending upward and will be impactful NBA players in a season or two, it’s hard to decidedly say they’re better than the likes of Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura in terms of their impact on winning in their respective situations. Veterans like Tobias Harris and Tim Hardaway Jr. flamed out of contending franchises over the summer as well, so the overall talent disparity in this contest is one of note.
Given the relatively equal standing of most players on the Pistons roster compared to the clear offensive hierarchy in LA, Detroit will have more offensive options. But those options do not match up with the top-end talent of the Lakers and will be hard to overcome in this matchup.
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