The Los Angeles Lakers fell to an unbelievable loss at the hands of the Chicago Bulls, blowing a 16-point fourth-quarter lead before falling victim to a half-court game-winner from Josh Giddey. The Bulls swept the Lakers in their regular season series with this shocking outcome, one that LeBron James feels responsible for.
Less than 24 hours after hitting a buzzer-beater of his own to give the Lakers a win, LeBron struggled against the Bulls, with his sloppy turnover with six seconds left on the clock being one of the key reasons for the loss. James accepted his mistakes in the post-game press conference.
“Horrible turnover by myself, bad miscommunication play before that. … Tip your hat if someone makes a game-winner from half court.”
LeBron: "Horrible turnover by myself, bad miscommunication play before that. … Tip your hat if someone makes a game-winner from half court."
— Lakers Daily (@LakersDailyCom) March 28, 2025
The last 15 seconds of the game were insane. The Lakers held a five-point lead after Austin Reaves made a pair of free throws after Giddey missed an opportunity to cut the game to one possession. Patrick Williams would nail a three to cut the game to two points before LeBron’s sloppy inbounds pass was picked off and resulted in a Coby White three with six seconds left, giving the Bulls a one-point lead.
Reaves, who led the Lakers in scoring tonight, would hit a potential game-winner by driving to the rim and giving the Lakers a one-point lead with less than three seconds on the clock. The Bulls, who had no timeouts, inbounded to Josh Giddey, who let a half-court heave fly over a LeBron James’ contest, swishing the shot to seal the win.
You’ll rarely see endings like this in the NBA, as the Lakers quite literally choked this win away. Many argue they didn’t deserve to beat the Pacers last night before LeBron’s buzzer-beater, so this could just be the basketball gods balancing that result out. But the Lakers did deserve to lose, given how terrible they looked in the fourth quarter.
Blowing a 16-point lead to a below-.500 team should be inexcusable for a title contender like the Lakers. They let the Bulls score 44 points in this period after restricting them to just 17 points in the third. These sorts of swings are unacceptable, and JJ Redick will likely reprimand his players for this.
James put up 17 points (8-20 FG), five rebounds, and 12 assists on the night, having impactful stretches but also deserving of the blame for the late collapse. Reaves led the team with 30 points (10-17 FG), while Luka Doncic had 25 points (8-22 FG), 10 rebounds, and eight assists.
The Bulls’ starting five was too much for the Lakers. Giddey ended the night with 25 points (8-19 FG), 14 rebounds, and 11 assists, while Coby White had 26 points (9-20 FG) and nine assists. Kevin Huerter contributed 21 points (8-17 FG), six rebounds, and five assists, while Nikola Vucevic put up 14 points (6-10 FG) and eight rebounds. Even rookie Matas Buzelis got in on the action with 12 points (3-10 FG) and seven rebounds.
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