How A Game Of Soccer Helped The Pistons Defeat The Lakers

On Wednesday, the Detroit Pistons scored a massive 128–106 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers inside Crypto.com Arena. There are a number of things that the Pistons did right on the Lakers' home floor, but one key event that drove their success occurred two days prior.

According to Pistons head coach JB Bickerstaff, his team dipped its toes into another sport when it paid a visit to the UCLA campus on Monday. Apparently, this quick excursion made all the difference in the world.

"We played soccer on UCLA's campus," Bickerstaff told reporters after the Pistons-Lakers game. "It was a time when we lost a couple of games in a row, and people can get down and start thinking about it. We haven't seen the sunshine in so long, so we just went outside and had a good time playing."

Bickerstaff, who is in his second season at the helm of the Pistons, said that the game of soccer did more than lift his players' spirits. "The similarities were great for our guys to see. The way we moved the ball when we were playing soccer...the cuts, the reads...it translated to the game of basketball."

The numbers back up Bickerstaff's claim about the Pistons' improvement on offense. Against the Lakers, they shot an extremely efficient 63.2% from the field and 45.8% from beyond the arc. Cade Cunningham led the way with 27 points, five rebounds, and 11 assists, while reserve guard Marcus Sasser had 19 points off the bench.

On the defensive end, the Pistons forced the Lakers to commit 20 turnovers and shoot just 28.2% from three-point territory. Though Luka Doncic dropped a 30-piece on this night, he did so on a subpar 9-for-22 clip. LeBron James, meanwhile, was held to 17 points on 30.0% shooting from deep.

With the win over the Lakers, the Pistons went up to 25–8 to stay a step ahead of the New York Knicks for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. The next three and a half months won't come any easier for Detroit, but if things get rough again, Bickerstaff knows that he can take his boys out to the pitch for another fun time.