The Lakers lost the NBA's hottest scorer a few hours before tipoff. Austin Reaves made sure they barely missed him.

Reaves scored a season-high 43 points as Los Angeles held off the Detroit Pistons 121-116 on Sunday night at Little Caesars Arena. Luka Doncic sat out with lower-back tightness.

Reaves made 14 of 27 shots, went 4 of 6 from 3-point range and hit all 11 of his free throws. He added five rebounds and four assists with just one turnover in nearly 37 minutes. The Lakers won their fifth straight game to improve to 9-2.

A shot he called lucky

Los Angeles raced to a 40-14 lead early in the second quarter. Detroit chipped away and had a chance to tie the game at 90 with 9:14 left but Cade Cunningham missed the second of two free throws.

A three-point play by Walker Kessler pushed the lead to 107-99 with 2:15 to go. The Pistons still got within 109-104 in the final minute. With the shot clock about to expire Reaves flipped in a one-legged off-balance 3-pointer with 46 seconds left then closed it out at the line.

"That was a terrible shot" Reaves said. He said it looked like one of the ridiculous shots Doncic makes and admitted he did not even try to make it. "Now that looks like a good shot in the box score but it was 100% lucky."

Teammates see it differently

Kessler finished with 12 points and 16 rebounds. He pushed back on the idea that Reaves got lucky. "It doesn't matter if we get a Luka game or an A.R. game — we're still going to win" Kessler said.

Doncic had averaged 45 points, nine rebounds and eight assists over his previous four games. The Lakers are now 2-0 this season when he does not play.

The night had extra meaning for Reaves. Detroit planned to take him in the second round of the 2021 draft but he went undrafted by choice so he could sign with the Lakers as a free agent. The Lakers had lost four straight to the Pistons before Sunday.