After his rest and recovery period, James was back in top form and again achieved the best score with 28 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.

Despite his best efforts, the Lakers lost 114-117 thanks to the combined effort of Cade Cunningham and Malik Beasley, who combined for 41 points.

Austin Reaves was unhappy with his performance, while Lakers legend James Worthy stated that the Pistons were too physical.

One player who once again put in a solid performance was Max Christie. He has developed into a regular player for the Lakers and has once again underlined his value for the team.

Christie talks about added responsibility

Even though he’s just 21 years old, Lakers coach JJ Redick has relied on Christie to log extra minutes for the team in recent weeks.

Redick recently praised Christie, saying he “plays hard every night,” something some Lakers players have been accused of not doing.

Christie played 33 minutes against the Pistons and scored 17 points, making 6-10 field goals and 3-4 from distance.

While Christie enjoys his attacking displays, he explains why his defensive efforts are more important to him.

Following the game, he told the media: “Tonight was a great offensive game for me, but I wouldn’t say I would judge myself by it, it’s more the defense.”

Christie went on to explain how he felt dealing with the tricky offensive skills of Cade Cunningham, the Pistons’ biggest star.

Cunningham has been linked with an All-Star berth and Christie can understand why: “I think I did a good job tonight. My first match was Cade Cunningham, an elite player, an All-Star player, he still had 20 (points), 10 (assists) and five (rebounds), but I felt like I did a good job , just to make things difficult for him. He’s a great player and he’s going to hit hard shots, so I think I’m in a pretty good position overall right now.”

Christie gets real when it comes to “killer” sales

It’s no secret that the Lakers have struggled with turnovers in their recent losses. The team gave up 18 players in the loss to the Pistons, which Christie called “killer.”

Worthy recently called the Lakers’ turnover problems “terrible” following their 97-87 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there were 13 and 14 turnovers in the two wins against the Sacramento Kings, respectively.

Regarding the turnovers, Christie said: “These turnovers are definitely awesome, we just have to try to do a better job as a team and just take care of the ball. “I mean, we have enough talent to score, and we shot the ball extremely well. I think if we cut down on those turnovers, we’ll probably end up winning or at least putting ourselves in a better stop to win.”

Despite the Lakers’ turnover difficulties, they are pretty far behind in most turnovers. They currently rank 19th with just 403 turnovers, while the Utah Jazz lead with 523.

The Lakers will have to clean up their mistakes when they face Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day.

Related posts