Bryant Leaves Lakers Loss With Stomach Illness
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 22 points, Andre Drummond added 18 points and 15 rebounds, and the Pistons beat the Los Angeles Lakers 111-91 Sunday in Kobe Bryant's last visit to Detroit.
Reggie Jackson added 20 points as the Pistons won their fourth straight.
Lou Williams scored 21 points and Julius Randle added 15 points and 11 rebounds as Los Angeles lost for the ninth time in 10 games.
Bryant received a standing ovation before the game, when the arena went dark while Pistons public address announcer John Mason read off his long list of achievements, graciously skipping the loss to Detroit in the 2004 Finals.
Bryant missed his first nine shots, and when he finally made one — a 3-pointer midway through the third quarter — the fans gave him his second ovation of the night and a brief "KO-BE" chant broke out.
He finished with five points on 2-of-15 shooting.
Drummond had his 12th game of at least 15 points and 15 rebounds. Anthony Davis is second in the league with four.
The Pistons opened the game with a 15-0 run over the first 3 minutes. That included a play where Bryant dribbled the ball at the top of the key while surveying the defense, and Jackson slid over to make a clean steal and broke back the other way for a basket.
The Lakers briefly got themselves back into the game, but with Bryant missing all seven of his first-half shots, Detroit was able to build a 65-42 lead at the break.
The Pistons expanded it to 90-65 after three, although Bryant drew another cheer and chant when he made a simple fast-break layup late in the quarter.
The most excitement of the fourth quarter came when Nick Young shoved Anthony Tolliver after a hard foul. Metta World Peace was on the bench and didn't get involved as Marcus Morris quickly broke things up. Young was ejected.
TIP INS
Lakers: Bryant's first game at The Palace of Auburn Hills wasn't for the Lakers. In the spring of 1993, he played in Magic Johnson's Roundball Classic — a high school All-Star game. ... Larry Nance Jr. didn't play due to a sore knee, while Bryant played through a stomach bug.
Pistons: Steve Blake had a four-point play to give the Pistons a 20-point lead midway through the second quarter, thanks to a bad foul by Williams. ... Detroit is now 12-9, the first time they have been three games over .500 since starting 3-0.
UP NEXT:
Lakers: At Toronto on Monday
Pistons: At Charlotte on Monday.