CHICAGO – DeMar DeRozan finished with a game-high 27 points and Coby White followed with 17 to lead eight scorers in double figures and lift the hosts Chicago Bulls to a 124-108 win against the Los Angeles Lakers on Dec 20.
Chicago sent the Lakers to their third straight National Basketball Association loss and fourth defeat in five games behind 54.5 per cent shooting, including a 52.9 per cent effort from deep.
Said Lakers forward Anthony Davis: “We all hate losing. There’s no break coming. No help coming. There’s no cavalry. We’ve got to do it within this locker room.
“We’ve got everyone back now. We just got to find a way to get in the win column.”
The Bulls led by as many as 18 points while withstanding LeBron James’ triple-double bid for the Lakers. James scored 25 points to go with 10 rebounds and nine assists. Austin Reaves followed with 21 points, while Davis posted a double-double of 19 points and 14 rebounds.
Chicago held off the Lakers down the stretch to win for the seventh time in 10 games.
DeRozan flirted with a triple-double himself, contributing nine of the Bulls’ 25 assists to go with seven rebounds.
He said of bouncing back from a 5-14 start to the season: “We were going through it. Sometimes you’ve got to go through it so you can find a different type of motivation that you can come together with.
“The best relationships come out of that.”
Nikola Vucevic posted a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Patrick Williams (15 points), Alex Caruso (15), Ayo Dosunmu (14), Andre Drummond (11) and Jevon Carter (10) also scored in double figures.
The Lakers shot 44.7 per cent and were just 12 for 37 from three-point range.
Taurean Prince added 16 points for the Lakers, while Cam Reddish had 13. Davis missed time in the third quarter after rolling his left ankle but returned in the fourth.
Strong shooting boosted the Bulls to a 61-55 half-time lead. Caruso had 12 points to key a balanced attack for Chicago, who saw eight players score at least five points.
That diversity helped offset the Lakers’ quartet of double-figure scorers in the first half, as James (15 points) and Prince (13) led the way.
Chicago limited Los Angeles to 22 points in the first quarter. The Bulls blew the game open by scoring 21 of the final 32 points of the third quarter.
Meanwhile, Kawhi Leonard recorded 30 points and 10 rebounds as the Los Angeles Clippers stretched their winning streak to nine games with a 120-111 victory over the hosts Dallas Mavericks.
Luka Doncic had 28 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists for Dallas, but his franchise record of 11 straight 30-point efforts came to an end. Doncic was just eight of 14 from the free-throw line.
REUTERS
