The Los Angeles Lakers (10-11) host the Detroit Pistons (4-15) at Staples Center on Sunday night — in a rematch of the NBA's newest, fiercest rivals.

LeBron James-Isaiah Stewart storyline aside, the struggling Lakers, in theory, should be able use a home matchup against one of the league's worst teams as an opportunity to right the ship — at least for a day.

In practice, though? Likely a different story.

The Lakers have played the 5th easiest schedule in the NBA, to this point. 13 of their 21 games have come at home.

Yet, the Lakers have suffered abysmal losses to bottom-feeders like the Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder (twice) and Sacramento Kings. They've had to eke out victories against the Pistons, Houston Rockets, and San Antonio Spurs. Against playoff-caliber competition, Los Angeles is 3-7 (including the Memphis Grizzlies).

Following the Lakers' triple-overtime loss to the Kings on Friday, Anthony Davis spoke about playing better at home and, you know, turning things around with the ol' 10-game winning streak.

“I mean, we could go on a 10-game winning streak, 12-game winning streak, now the narrative is different,” Davis said. “You know, 10-game winning streak, we're 20-11. Now we'll shut everybody up. But it's on us. We're going to have to do it. It's not just going to be easy.”

Agreed: a 10 or 12 game win streak would change the narrative, and also will not be easy. Fortunately, the Lakers — the healthiest they've been all season — will enjoy a few more weeks of friendliness via the Scheduling Gods.

Los Angeles will face Detroit on Sunday and visit Sacramento on Tuesday. After a couple tough home matchups vs. the Los Angeles Clippers and Boston Celtics (albeit with two days off in between), they'll head to Memphis and OKC, then host the Orlando Magic.

“We got a nice little schedule and this is a time where we can’t keep saying ‘short season, short season,' Davis said. “We got to be able to win basketball games and put a string of wins together in a row.”

After that stretch, the road will get far more treacherous. The Lakers will travel to face the Dallas Mavericks (Dec. 15), T-Wolves, and the Chicago Bulls, before returning home to host the Phoenix Suns, Spurs, and Brooklyn Nets on Christmas.

The post-Holiday slate is heavy with road games and playoff teams. They bulk of their back-to-backs come in March and April. According to Tankathon, they have the 11th toughest remaining schedule in the NBA.

The Lakers don't have to rattle off 10 consecutive wins, as Davis so casually posited (they won't, of course). But they do need to take advantage of these next couple weeks, regardless of what the product looks like or what the margin of victory is. There are no moral victories or productive losses. They need to stack Ws.

Otherwise, they may find themselves thankful for the existence of the play-in game.

It's only (a particularly early) Hanukkah, but it might already be make-or-break time for the 2021-22 Los Angeles Lakers.