The Los Angeles Lakers saw their three-game winning streak end with a loss at the Detroit Pistons on Monday night. Head coach JJ Redick has continued to tinker with his rotation, and with his two big backups still out with injuries, the Lakers have recently switched to small-ball lineups with Rui Hachimura at center.

It worked well in the team’s win over the Sacramento Kings, but the results weren’t the same against the Pistons. The Lakers struggled to keep Detroit off the offensive glass, allowing them ten offensive rebounds, but more importantly, the Lakers couldn’t take care of the ball, something Redick pointed out when discussing the performance of this lineup.

“Not good because we turn the ball over,” Redick said after the loss. “But we liked what we saw with Rui (Hachimura) at the Five in Sacramento and we wanted to try it out tonight.”

When something works well, it makes sense to try again, and that’s what Redick and the Lakers did, but unfortunately they played into the hands of exactly what the Pistons do best. Those turnovers led to 28 Pistons points and Detroit also had 24 fast break points.

In the nine minutes that Anthony Davis was off the court and the Lakers went small, the team had an 18-point lead.

Turnovers have been one of the biggest barometers for the Lakers all season. In fact, they are in the top 10 for fewest turnovers per game, and when they take care of the ball they are a much more formidable team. But there’s so little room for error that when the Lakers start giving the ball away, it’s almost impossible to overcome mistakes.

Injuries forced Redick to opt for the small-ball lineup and use Hachimura as center. It can work when the Lakers do the little things, but that didn’t happen against the Pistons and LA suffered a loss as a result.

It will be interesting to see if Christian Koloko gets another chance in the rotation to give the Lakers some size or if they stay small until Jaxson Hayes can return.

JJ Redick is unhappy with the Lakers’ turnovers in the loss to the Pistons

The Lakers’ turnovers were the talk after the loss to the Pistons and JJ Redick wasn’t happy with his team’s problems, especially given the Pistons’ aggressive defense.

“Yeah, I mean, we knew in advance that they were going to shock or flash at times,” Redick said. “So I’m not sure why we were so surprised by it. Then some of them played in tight spaces, and some of them dribbled the ball with just their foot. Dribbles the ball out of bounds and passes to Malik Beasley so he can make a three-pointer. They capitalized every time we made a mistake.”