Pistons stop Lakers’ run at seven

Detroit Pistons 106

Wallace 25 pts, 13 rebs; Iverson 25 pts; Prince 18 pts

Lakers 95

Bryant 29 pts, 6 ast; Gasol 15 pts, 10 rebs; Odom 11 pts

Allen Iverson registered his highest point tally for his new team, the Pistons as they beat the Lakers for the eighth-time in their last ten meetings to halt the Lakers’ unbeaten start to the season.

The Lakers had one of their worse shooting nights of this fledging season, connecting on just 42 percent from the field. The Pistons on the other hand had one of their better nights, shooting 51 percent from the field, with Rasheed Wallace shooting particularly well, hitting 4-of-9 from three-point range.

Wallace caused the Lakers big problems playing at the center position, his ability to shoot and carry the ball better than most centers dragged the defense apart, making room for drives to the basket, which Iverson in particular exploited.

One of the more surprising performances of the night was that of former Laker, Kwame Brown. Returning to Staples for the first time since his summer switch, Brown was able to ignore the jeers of the home crowd to record a double-double.

There were few positives to be taken from this contest from the Lakers’ point of view but one could be the 11 points Lamar Odom contributed from the bench. Another, the milestone Kobe Bryant reached. Kobe’s 29 point haul allowed him to pass both former Celtic Larry Bird’s and former Laker Gary Payton’s career points totals to become the 21st highest scoring player in NBA history with (21,817).

Perhaps typically of this match, Iverson overshadowed Kobe’s achievement, moving to no.19 on the all time list, passing Elgin Baylor (23,149) with his 25 points on the night.

The Lakers will hope they can bounce straight back from this disappointing defeat when they face the Bulls at home on Tuesday.

Luol Deng and the Bulls haven’t made the start to the season they would have hoped for but have experienced a resurgence of late and will be playing with some confidence, so the Lakers will have to perform a lot better than they did in this one if they hope to take anything from it.