Getting off to one of the best starts in franchise history, the Los Angeles Lakers appear to be the undisputed favorites to defend their championship title in this year’s NBA campaign. Thus, Kobe Bryant and the Lakers will try to hold on to their positive momentum when they make their way to Detroit to take on the Pistons on Sunday at 11 p.m. GMT.

Unlike the Lakers, the Detroit Pistons did not perform as well as they were hoping for, but managed to bounce back with a five-game winning streak in the last two weeks. Being one game below the .500 mark, Detroit is expecting to get a lift when All-Star Rip Hamilton returns to the floor after being sidelined by a wrist injury in the first six weeks of play. One bright spot has been the Pistons’ defense as they held their opponents to 95 points per game so far. That said, the team around Ben Gordon had considerable problems finding the basket and is among the worst offensive teams in the league, scoring just 93.7 points a night. Offensively, point guard Rodney Stuckey has been the only pleasant surprise as he averaged 19.2 points, 2.5 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals per contest.

In contrast, there is very little to criticize about the way the Lakers have performed early in the season. Winning 18 out of 22, Los Angeles leads the Western Conference and turned out to be one of the best teams at both ends of the floor thus far. Despite the criticism of many experts around the league, the franchise’s acquisition of Ron Artest turned out to be a great fit and provided the Lakers with even more defensive pressure. Likewise, the return of All-Star Pau Gasol made the team even stronger as he made an impact right away, putting up 17.6 points, 11.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.3 blocks per game. Considering the strength of the Lakers, there is no doubt that Kobe Bryant and company will enter their matchup with the Pistons as everyone’s favorites to secure another win on Saturday night. Albeit Detroit is a solid defensive team, they are nowhere near the level of individual talent nor do the Pistons have the offensive capabilities of the Lakers.

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