Lakers Block 20 Shots In Win Over Pistons, First Team To Do So In Nearly 20 Years
(CBSLA)- When a team blocks a handful of their opponent's shots, the long-time cliche is 'they're having a block party.' The Lakers held a very large block party for the Detroit Pistons Sunday night in their 106-99 win.
The Lakers blocked 20 Pistons shot attempts on the night, becoming the first team since the 2001 Toronto Raptors to block that many shots in a single game. Anthony Davis, JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard did the lion's share of the work, combining for 19 blocks on the night. Davis set a season high with eight by himself. The Lakers entered the game leading the league in blocked shots per game at 7.1, a number that will tick up after last night.
"I mean, I think it's just an unbelievable feat. A remarkable feat. Dwight, JaVale and AD, they just make it easy on us," LeBron James said to ESPN. "To know that you have that safety net behind you ... it's a heck of a luxury."
The 20 blocks is also the second-most in a game in franchise history, trailing only the 21 that the team compiled against the Denver Nuggets on April 9, 1982. The Lakers are also just the second team since 2000 to accomplish the feat according to Basketball Reference's Play Index, with the Raptors doing it twice in that 2001 season.
After the game, McGee took to Twitter to indicate that he had been randomly selected to be drug tested by the league, which he appeared to believe was not so random.
Either way, the Lakers shot-blocking bigs have made an impact this season with opponents shooting just 56.7% on shots inside five feet and only 40% on shots in the five-nine-foot range according to NBA.com stats. The win improved the team's record to 29-7 on the season and extended their win streak to five games.
