DETROIT — LeBron James made his first seven shots from the field and looked plenty capable of leading the Lakers to a victory with Anthony Davis sidelined.
Then James tried to become more of a facilitator — and he never really regained that scoring groove.
James scored just two points after halftime, and the Detroit Pistons handed Los Angeles its second straight loss, 107-92 on Thursday night. Davis sat out because of a right quad contusion.
“I think early on I got it going, and then I still at the end of the day, still got to get my teammates involved,” James said. “I definitely missed some shots that I know I’m accustomed to making.”
Blake Griffin scored 23 points for the Pistons, who are having a strange week that has included wins over the 76ers and Lakers but a loss to Cleveland in between.
“I thought we were really good,” Griffin said. “I was proud of the way everybody played.”
James had 22 points and 10 assists. The Lakers lost by a point at Philadelphia on Wednesday night, and now the defending champions are on their first losing streak of any length since before last year’s playoffs.
Detroit led by one before Griffin’s 3-pointer with 6:54 remaining started a 16-0 run. The Lakers went nearly seven minutes without scoring.
“I don’t know if we ran out of gas,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. “We just didn’t have a great rhythm that second half in any way.”
Wayne Ellington added 20 points for the Pistons.
James was questionable because of a left ankle sprain, but he looked fine at the outset, scoring 14 points in the first quarter. James made four 3-pointers in the first half, but so did Ellington, and the Pistons only trailed 58-56 at the break.
For the Lakers, Kyle Kuzma scored 22 points and Talen Horton-Tucker contributed 13. James went 1-of-12 from the field after making his first seven shots.
