Pistons vs. Lakers final score: Third quarter collapse dooms Detroit in 106-96 loss to LA

For the first two quarters of last night's game, there were reasons to feel good.

Andre Drummond was dominating the dirty work, grabbing every rebound in sight and shutting down the paint.

Good Josh Smith made an appearance with his triple-doubley stuff, scoring 15 first half points on only 10 shots along with 5 assists and 4 rebounds.

And for the Lakers, Kobe Bryant couldn't get anything going as he missed all 5 first half shots and constantly complaining at his teammates.

But things quickly fell apart in the third quarter. Bryant came out playing the part of a facilitator, quickly tallying four assists. Meanwhile, turnovers and bad shots sank the Pistons offense. Trailing only one at the half, the Pistons folded as they watched the Lakers lead grow to as much as 21 in the quarter.

It was one of those games where the final score didn't accurately depict just how much of a blowout the contest actually was - and this was still a double digit loss.

Everything fell apart in the third. After his dominant first half, Drummond collected only one rebound. Smith shot seven times but made only one. He also contributed three turnovers and a technical foul to the disaster.

Stan Van Gundy benched most of the starters for the fourth quarter, even cracking the glass for Luigi Datome for his first appearance. The lineup of D.J. Augustin, Caron Butler, Datome, Jonas Jerebko, and Greg Monroe were able to get the game back to respectability, closing the gap to 8 points midway through the period.

But that's the closest they got as the Pistons dropped to 3-15. The Pistons shot just 37 percent against the league's worst defense.

Things are really bad in Detroit.