Detroit Pistons Ruin Lakers Perfect Start

The Detroit Pistons came to LA knowing that they would be playing the red hot Lakers, who were the only NBA team to not have lost a game this young season but the Pistons didn't care. They came in, played ball and left winners as they continue their recent dominance over the Lakers by beating them for the 8th time in the last 10 meetings. The Pistons of course, are one of the NBA's elite teams and with the newly acquisition of Allen Iverson they are even a stronger team.

The Pistons won the game 106-95 and were never really threatened. They took control over the Lakers early in the first quarter and by the end of the quarter had a 23-16 lead. At the half they led 53-44. At the end of the third the Lakers found themselves down by 15 points heading into the fourth. The Lakers did outscore the Pistons in the fourth quarter by 4 points but were never really a threat to Detroit's lead.

Kobe Bryant thought Rasheed Wallace was the problem for the Lakers in this game. Rasheed had 25 points in the game to go along with 13 rebounds and hit 4 three pointers. "With Rasheed Wallace at the 5, and his ability to stretch the floor, it opened up the lanes for the guards," Bryant said. "We didn't shoot particularly well, but those guys were hot, too, in the first half and third quarter and kept us at bay.

All five Piston starters scored in double figures with only Bryant and Gasol being the only starters to have over 10 points for the Lakers.

Allen Iverson had 25 points to share his team high with Wallace. "We just played defense," Iverson said. "We made them take tough, contested shots. When they missed, we got out and ran and took advantage. On the offensive end, we just attacked all night."

Kobe Bryant had the game high scoring honor with 29 points but it didn't look to pretty as he shot only 12-30. Pau Gasol had 15 points and was one of the few Lakers to shoot well in the game, he was 6-11 from the field. Derek Fisher had a terrible shooting night going only 4-16 and finishing the night with 9 points. Bynum didn't do much better shooting 3-7 and scoring 8 points.

Former Laker Kwame Brown started for the Pistons. Brown had 10 points and 10 rebounds on 4-5 shooting for the Pistons. Brown was booed often, but afterward he smiled and said, "They booed me when I was here."

A couple milestones were reached during tonight's game. Kobe Bryant moved up the all time scoring list. Bryant has 21,817 points and jumped into 21st ahead of Larry Bird (21,791) and Gary Payton (21,813). Iverson (23,156) passed Elgin Baylor (23,149) to jump to No. 19.

Well, you can't win them all, as the Lakers found out. The loss came to a worthy opponent as the Detroit Pistons are guaranteed to be one of the last teams standing in the East come playoff time.