LOS ANGELES (Sporting Alert) — Dwight Howard scored 28 points and pulled down seven rebounds and the Los Angeles Lakers registered its first win over the new NBA season, following a 108-79 result over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night.
LA Lakers Finally Win In New Season
The Lakers had dropped its opening three games and were desperate to get off the mark and take some of the pressure off head coach Mike Brown and star-loaded team.
World Peace 18 points, five rebounds and four assists, while Kobe Bryant added 15 points, eight assists and seven boards in the win for the Lakers.
Two other players, Pau Gasol, 14 points and Jordan Hill, 11, were also in double digit scoring for the Lakers, who shot 51.9 percent from the field.
“We needed to win in a convincing way,” Gasol said. “We did a lot of positive things that we can build on. We set the tone early, that helped a lot.”
Jonas Jerebko led the Pistons with 18 points, with Kyle Singler adding 11 points and five rebounds and Will Bynum finishing with 10 points and five assists in the loss.
The Pistons struggled from the opening quarter, where they were outscored 34-13 in the first quarter – and never really recovered from then.
“It’s unacceptable to get your doors blown off like we did,” Pistons coach Lawrence Frank said.
“But we’re a young, building team and we’ll definitely grow from this. Once they kicked us, we didn’t do what needed to do to respond.”
