After a blowout loss on Saturday, the Los Angeles Lakers were out for revenge in tonight’s rematch against the Chicago Bulls. This time, on the road at the United Center, the Lakers (who are now at full strength) faced a hostile crowd in pursuit of their 45th win of the season.
With a 32-40 record, the Bulls haven’t been great this season, but they pushed the Lakers to the brink tonight in another highly competitive game. Just like last time, the Bulls set the tone early by taking a 10-point lead at the end of the first quarter, but they weren’t able to hold it. The Lakers responded with 37 points in the second quarter and turned up their defense in the second half to outscore Chicago by 15. Down the stretch, it looked like the Lakers had the win secured with a lead in the final seconds, until a buzzer-beating heave by Josh Giddey gave the edge to the Bulls (119-117).
Coby White was the hero of the game with 26 points, three rebounds, and nine assists on 9-20 shooting. Josh Giddey finished with 25 points, 14 rebounds, and 11 assists on 8-19 shooting, including the game-winning three. Finally, Kevin Huerter dropped 21 points along with three rebounds and nine assists on 9-20 shooting.
For the Lakers, Austin Reaves was the leading scorer with 30 points, one rebound, and three assists on 10-17 shooting. Luka Doncic put up 25 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists on 8-22 shooting. In the frontcourt, LeBron James dropped 17 points, five rebounds, and 12 assists on 8-20 shooting.
To say this was a heartbreaker for the Lakers would be an understatement. With everyone healthy tonight, they wanted to secure this win and start building up their momentum for the upcoming playoff push. Unfortunately, due to some costly mistakes, the Lakers took the loss to send them to 44-29 on the season.
Defensive Collapse Down The Stretch
The Lakers were playing solid defense for much of the game and held the Bulls to 17 points in the third quarter. The final 12 minutes are where everything went wrong, and it’s the last two minutes in particular where the Lakers lost the game.
Down 115-110 with 10.1 to go, the Lakers fell asleep on defense while also giving up an inbound pass that gave the Bulls a quick three points. In the final seconds of the game, Chicago made three three-pointers, one by Patrick Williams, one by Josh Giddey, and one by Coby White.
The Bulls shot an impressive 43.2% from three tonight, going 19-44 compared to the Lakers, who went 12-21. The Lakers lost control down the stretch, and they had no way to contain Giddey and White after they started getting hot.
Ongoing Struggles For LeBron James
LeBron James saved the Lakers with a game-winning buzzer-beater on Wednesday, but it was far from his finest performance, with 13 points, 13 rebounds, and seven assists on 33.3% shooting. Lakers fans were hoping for a better showing in this game, but LeBron James’ struggles brought them down one again.
In 39 minutes tonight, LeBron put up 17 points, five rebounds, and 12 assists on 8-20 shooting and 0-5 shooting from three. LeBron had four turnovers in the game and was -10.
LeBron’s biggest mistake was in the final seconds of the game. His lazy and predictable inbounds pass was stolen by Josh Giddey and is ultimately what cost the Lakers the win. It was a bad pass from LeBron, and he was dejected on the bench after it all went down.
Inconsistency Is A Problem
At their best, the Lakers are one of the best teams in the NBA, but they have developed a bad habit of losing their focus during games. Constantly “checking out” has made the Lakers wildly inconsistent, and it was one of the biggest stories of the game tonight.
The Lakers began the game well enough, but they couldn’t maintain their strong play through the entire contest. Their offense was clicking in the second quarter with 37 points to take the lead, and it was their defense that helped set it up by holding the Pacers to 17 points in the third.
In the final 12 minutes, it’s like the Lakers forgot how to play defense at all. They lost focus, got lazy, and allowed the Bulls to drop 44 points to complete the comeback and pull off the miracle win. For whatever reason, the Lakers are struggling to bring their A-game for four quarters, and whatever adjustments they try to make just end up giving away all their momentum.
After a game like this, there’s no easy explanation for how to fix the Lakers. At 44-29, they are still one of the top six teams in the West, but they are deeply flawed right now and they’ll need to make some changes to their approach if they want to avoid racking up any more losses.
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