D’Angelo Russell led the LA Lakers to a dominant 133-107 win over the Detroit Pistons to hand the struggling Eastern Conference team a franchise-worst 15th-straight loss.
Russell exploded with a season-high 35 points on 13-of-17 shooting, including five triples, nine assists and two blocks, while Anthony Davis (28 points, 16 rebounds, three blocks) and LeBron James (25 points, eight boards) also filled up the box score.
It comes after Hoops Hype reported Russell, who’s on a two-year, $36 million deal, along with Rui Hachimura are potential trade candidates to watch if the Lakers if the Lakers make a move before the deadline, having been linked to the likes of Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan.
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More performances like against the Pistons on Thursday (all times AEDT) though and LA might be better simply staying put.
The contest was put out of reach early after the Lakers raced out to a 38-24 start behind 13 first-quarter points from Russell and 11 from Anthony Davis.
The Pistons never recovered from that point as LA held a comfortable 12-plus point lead for the majority of the first half before putting the home side away with a 36-point third quarter blitz.
With it, the Lakers bounced back from a 44-point loss to Philadelphia and improved to 11-8 on the season, while Detroit fell to 2-16 to continue its grim campaign.
Cade Cunningham led the Pistons with 15 points, but was a -33 on the court in a showing of just how bleak a performance it was for Monty Williams’ squad.
INGLES’ MAGIC KEEP ROLLING
Joe Ingles’ Orlando Magic are rolling.
Orlando won its eighth game in a row — its longest streak in over a decade — over Washington in a 139-120 home victory.
Franz Wagner top-scored with 31 points on 11-of-14 shooting with four triples and Cole Anthony poured in 25 points off the bench with three threes, six rebounds and five assists.
Ingles meanwhile chipped in a productive 12 points, for rebounds and six assists including making several typical veteran plays to continue a solid season from the 36-year old Aussie.
The Magic are now 13-5 on the season to remarkably sit second in the Eastern Conference as one of the big improvers in the NBA this season, while Washington fell to 3-15.
The two sides will rematch in Orlando again on Saturday.
ALL RESULTS
WIZARDS 120 MAGIC 139
LAKERS 133 PISTONS 107
SUNS 105 RAPTORS 112
JAZZ 91 GRIZZLIES 105
76ERS – PELICANS
ROCKETS – NUGGETS
CLIPPERS – KINGS
