Don’t look now, but the Chicago Bulls are inching their way toward the .500 mark with an impressive 118-108 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday at the Crypto.com Arena. The victory tied the Bulls with the Toronto Raptors in the standings at 36-38, putting them three games clear of the 11th-place Washington Wizards in the race for a spot in the play-in tournament.
DeMar DeRozan, LeBron James return
Key players for both teams made their respective returns to the floor as DeMar DeRozan returned from a one-game absence due to a quad strain and produced a near-triple-double of 17 points, 10 assists, and six rebounds to help lead the Bulls to their seventh victory in the last nine games.
Meanwhile, LeBron James also made his long-awaited return from a month-long absence and had 19 points, eight boards, and five turnovers. The NBA’s all-time scoring leader also came off the bench for just the second time in his long, decorated career. Lakers coach Darvin Ham noted that LeBron looked pretty good despite the lengthy absence.
“You could see him getting his rhythm, his timing, his finishes, all of that,” Ham said. “He’s a savvy veteran, one of the greatest ever to do it, so it’s not going to take all that much.”
Better resilience
The Bulls zoomed off to a 20-point lead in the second quarter at 59-39, but the Lakers stormed back to trim the deficit to eight at halftime, 63-55. Chicago got back into a groove in the third, but the Lakers pulled to within eight late in the fourth before Pat Beverley shut the door on any comeback attempt with a floater over LeBron—a move he punctuated with the “too small” celebration.
Bulls coach Billy Donovan said he liked how the team responded when the Lakers tried to mount a comeback. Whereas earlier in the season, Chicago would just fold, this time around, they responded better to adversity.
“Those were games earlier in the year where we could just not stop the avalanche. And I’m seeing better fight back,” said Donovan.
Source: yardbarker.com
