“To see guys rally around a teammate that just got ejected like that in a strange circumstance. “To me it’s one of those things that can change the momentum of your season,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said after the game. The Lakers erased a 17-point deficit in a little more than a quarter, and suddenly, all of those bad vibes disappeared. Davis scored 21 of his 30 after Stewart was tossed. Westbrook scored or assisted on 28 of the last 37 Lakers points. With Stewart gone, the Pistons lacked any semblance of rim protection. Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook took over the game. A loss could have derailed the entire season.
This is not an especially patient franchise. It was less than a decade ago that the Lakers needed only a 1-4 start to fire coach Mike Brown. A 10th loss could have lead to an 11th or 12th before even making it back to Los Angeles.
The Lakers, with two games left on their road trip, had to prepare for the possibility that James might be suspended. When LeBron James was ejected for an ugly hit on Isaiah Stewart, it looked like it might change for the worse. When they won the championship in 2020, that didn’t come until the end of January.Īnd then, the entire season changed in a single moment. The 78-66 lead they gave Detroit early in the third quarter suggested they were about to lose their 10th game. Despite entering the season as Western Conference favorites, they came into Sunday’s game against the Detroit Pistons below. The 2021-22 season has undoubtedly gotten off to a disappointing start for the Los Angeles Lakers.