LeBron James returns from injury, but Lakers look lost in blowout loss to Bulls
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There was less than a second left in the first quarter when LeBron James went to the sideline to inbound the ball. Sensing a moment to get the hottest player in the building, Luka Doncic, one more shot, Lakers coach JJ Redick rushed their new star into the game.
Doncic hustled to the scorer’s table, unwrapping the heat pack from his lower back, unsnapping his warmup pants and zipping off his jacket.
As the Lakers began to run a play, James then fired the ball down the floor. But instead of it finding Doncic or any Lakers player, it badly curved toward the courtside seats, a screwball turnover in a game littered with mistakes around one terrific offensive performance.
Doncic, the player the Lakers acquired to fix their narrow operating margins, scored with ease Saturday night, making three-pointers from all over the court. He finished with 34 points, a carryover from a multi-week stretch of dominant offense.
As LeBron James, Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic watched from the bench, the Lakers proved to be no match for Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks in a 118-89 loss.
But the buckets didn’t matter, only keeping the game from becoming a lopsided blowout sooner than it eventually did.
Back at full strength with James and Rui Hachimura playing for the first time in two weeks, the team looked like a group of strangers, badly beaten 146-115 by a Chicago team 10 games under .500 before embarrassing the Lakers.
“That was the worst our defense looked, maybe, all year,” JJ Redick said.
It was the most points the Lakers allowed this season and the most allowed by the franchise in a non-overtime home game since 1984.
And Doncic was far from perfect, all of his shot-making undone by seven turnovers and a disengaged defensive performance that helped the Bulls’ offense run like a faucet the Lakers never could turn off.
“I can’t be losing the ball seven times,” Doncic said.
As LeBron James, Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic watched from the bench, the Lakers proved to be no match for Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks in a 118-89 loss.
In the first half, the Lakers (43-27) were slow-footed, maybe a tax they needed to pay playing in their seventh game in 10 days. Their effort against Coby White in the first quarter was lacking, the Bulls guard quickly catching fire and matching Doncic bucket for bucket.
The Bulls (31-40) made 78.6% of their two-point shots in the first half, the Lakers’ defense providing no resistance. They didn’t stop Chicago at the rim. They didn’t stay in front of them on the perimeter. And once they got caught in rotations after switching, the Lakers moved like they had cement in their sneakers.
“Dead ducks,” Austin Reaves said about the Lakers.
The effort ticked up in the second half, the good news. The bad news? Somehow the defense was even worse, the Bulls scoring 81 points as they began to make shots from all over the court. The team worked harder to keep Chicago out of the paint, but the Lakers never threatened as the Bulls got hot from deep and made 73.7% from three in the second half.
“The disposition and the mentality [of the defense] — I don’t know if we assume because we had everybody back that it was just gonna be like it was three weeks ago, and that’s just not the way this works,” Redick said after. “I think the guys know that. And I’m not saying that’s what they assumed. You’ll have to ask them that. The thing that we have talked about all season long, though, is grace.
“And so the group inherently gets some grace for what this last three weeks has looked like. And it’s not an excuse. It’s just the nature of where a group felt very connected and then you lose some games on the road, you have some injuries, all that stuff. You gotta get reconnected.”
White finished with 36 and rookie Matas Buzelis had 31 points for Chicago. Josh Giddey nearly recorded a quadruple-double for the Bulls, finishing with 15 points, 17 assists, 10 rebounds and eight steals. The Bulls had seven players with at least 12 points and an eighth who scored nine.
James, in his first game after missing two weeks with a groin strain, looked badly out of rhythm on both sides of the court. He scored 17 but turned it over five times. Reaves had 25 but couldn’t help the Lakers get stops. And Hachimura, limited to 18 minutes, looked out of sorts off the bench and only scored five points.
James said he was rusty Saturday, but he was pleased that he was able to get out on the court after straining his groin exactly two weeks ago in Boston.
“I just take it day by day. I can’t worry about what can happen in the future, but I got through today. Obviously, get some work on it tomorrow, hopefully a little bit on the plane. It’s a long flight to Orlando,” James said. “And then once we get to Orlando, ... get ready for Monday. So I hope it’s behind, but I don’t wanna go too far in the future.”
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