Pistons fall to Lakers; Good news on return of Jalen Duren

Let me do this. Moving to the Detroit Pistons, where center Jalen Duren has made some significant progress on that right hamstring strain he suffered back in October against Miami. The Pistons' big man has been cleared to begin some on-the-court activity, and his progress will be updated again in two weeks. There's also injury news for the Lakers, as big man Luka Doncic did not play tonight against the Pistons, thanks to lower back tightness. Would that news aid Detroit in their search for the win column? Whoa, Joe, let's go courtside. Even without Doncic, LA still gave Detroit a run for the money. First quarter, Lakers up 12. If Quentin Grimes steals it from Cade Cunningham, he gets the easy layup to fall. Now, later in the quarter, Jared Vanderbilt to Zaire Williams for the big slam dunk. Pistons down by 24 after the opening quarter. But Jeff Rieger, never count out these Pistons. Second quarter, Dennis Jenkins makes the move. He gets open and then gets the triple to fall. Nice shot there. Then seconds before halftime, Jenkins on one foot shoots and gets another buzzer beater to fall. Just call him buzzer beater Jenkins. Pistons close the gap to 13 heading into the second quarter. Second half, third quarter, L.A. still leads, but Detroit staying in it. Kevin Herter with a Magic Johnson type behind the back pass to Jenkins in the corner, and he drills it. Dennis with a career-high 31 off the bench. Pistons down 12. Final minutes of the third. Herter with a steal, gives to Asar Thompson, who gives it back, and he makes the lay-in. Somehow the Pistons cut the Lakers' lead to just five. Fourth quarter, L.A. up three. Look at Paul Reed, and he's going to hit the floater. Pistons down by one, but Detroit could not stop Austin Reeves. He hits the two-pointer here to keep the Lakers in front. Reeves finished with a game-high 43 points. The Lakers never gave up the lead. The Pistons' comeback attempt ends after cutting the lead down to one a couple of times. Lakers win it, 121-116. I think it's tough when you don't give yourself a chance like that. You give yourself a big deficit in the first quarter. I think we fought, you know what I mean? That's all you can ask for. But it would have been good if we didn't get off to that slow start and that big deficit. So it's great that you can come back. And that brings us back to the roundtable for more Pistons talk. All right, guys, against the Lakers. Was that an early measuring stick for this team? Well, if it was, they didn't really measure up because the Lakers were without Dantic, which made it completely... Absolutely. Lessened the Pistons' effort against them. But that said, we've seen it a little bit now since Duren has been out. The Pistons' defense hasn't been there as much. And Jalen Duren being absent is a big part of it. And the other thing, too, is... Cade Cunningham has struggled with turnovers. He's either first or second in the league in turnovers, and that has been an issue. Again, they're not whole yet, but that was a bad loss to the Lakers. Well, isn't that part of maybe a reversion of what we saw last year when... Duren wasn't really helping out, and Cade struggled to bring the ball up court because everyone was keying on him again. It seemed like that was the key tonight. No, I think you're right about that. So this is two losses in a row. I think you mentioned measuring stick game. I think the Philly game the other day at the LCA, that was a measuring stick game, and they had their way with the Pistons. And you're missing Jalen Duren, as you guys said. And even though I don't love the offensive game of Duren, he's a great rebounder. And I think you're maybe missing some of that that Paul Reed can't do. But again, Woody. Wojo, it's two games. We're still in November. This team is still fourth best in points differential. They're top five in three-point percentage. They're top eight in shooting percentage. I think it's going to be fine, but they should get another score. When that trade deadline rolls around, this time let's get another score. Well, Duncan Robinson is taking this plane for that key shooting thing. And you also saw in that game why, and they never really had a shot at him, but why the Pistons would have loved... To get Austin Reeves and the Lakers just were not letting him leave because that guy is tremendous. But Duncan Robinson has been a major revelation. On the flip side, I'd like to see more of John Collins, another one of the acquisitions. But they're fine. They're 6-3, and they're missing, arguably, their second-best player. Yeah, you know, we mentioned Jalen Duren earlier and his absence. I mean, obviously, it's changed the ceiling of this team right now because Paul Reed, while serviceable, is not a Jalen Duren type of guy. So without Duren, we're seeing maybe just a little lack. Cluster on the offensive end for Cade and everybody else as far as alley-oop jams and easy buckets and things like that. You're right. They have to work harder, it seems. Correct. They haven't gotten as many easy buckets. And I do think the defense has been limited to a certain degree. But the other thing is the Jalen Duren thing. Like, when he wasn't... The hamstring injury, was that a function of not being around? It could be. He was around towards the end when he finally signed. But I hear you. I hear you. Let me just throw this at you, Jeff. What's the biggest missing ingredient for Detroit? Is it health or consistent scoring? I mean, I think it's consistent scoring. I think every game you watch, if you watch, and I've watched a lot of these games. I know you guys have too. But every game, including today, they have a lapse where it's three to four to five to six minutes And it's where they don't score or they score very seldom. And that's going to kind of screw you a little bit in the postseason. I mean, every game, maybe I'm just different here. Every game I watch, I ask myself, OK, what am I learning about what this team can do in the second season? So they need more consistent scoring to answer your question. They definitely do, especially if they're going to shoot. Especially if they're going to try and beat championship teams with those kinds of expectations. Hey, look, guys, I've got to throw in a quick break. We'll be right back with more. No, no, you stay right here because we're going to talk college football after this break. We're going to bring out the bunion. We're going to talk about Michigan. It's not yours anymore. Sports Work Sunday night will be right back. I thought it was bigger than this. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.