Lakers Highlights: Healthy LA Loses Third Straight, Falls To Bulls On Road

There are no excuses for this.

This is getting to be a bit of a bad habit.

In falling 124-108 on the road to the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night, your Los Angeles Lakers dropped their third consecutive contest, and their fourth in the five games they've played since apparently expending a lot of energy to win the NBA's In-Season Tournament last week and hang an utterly meaningless banner in the rafters of Crypto.com Arena, between their 17 actual title banners.

During the game's opening quarter, ageless wonder LeBron James got off to a hot start, leading LA to an early lead. But things fell apart quickly for the Lakers, who proved pretty powerless to stop Chicago from getting anything it wanted from distance during an incredibly balanced attack.

The Bulls have looked like a different team since supposed best player Zach LaVine was put on the shelf with "foot inflammation," going 7-3 in its games this month. Crisp passing, a refreshing lack of "your-turn, my-turn" meandering ball-dominant offense, and notable improvements in the play of young lottery picks Coby White and Patrick Williams, plus really old center Nikola Vucevic, have been a big part of the turnaround. But really, everyone has looked better, even a re-engaged DeMar DeRozan, whose 27 points made him the star of the show for Chicago on offense tonight.

Chicago carved out a double-digit lead by the end of the opening quarter, but a push from the Lakers during the second frame (propelled mostly by... Taurean Prince?) reduced the Bulls' edge to as little as two points midway through that period. Chicago created a bit more separation, though LA fought valiantly. At the break, the Bulls led by six, 61-55.

Things were pretty even for the opening minutes of the third quarter, and LA once again got within two points a few times, though the Lakers never actually re-took the lead. After Anthony Davis rolled his ankle on White's hand midway through the frame, Chicago promptly went on a 14-8 run to close out the quarter. The Lakers trailed by as many as 18 points during the period.

Davis did return at the top of the fourth period to give LA a chance... only he didn't, as Chicago's perimeter players put the finishing touches on the night instead.

The two biggest takeaways from tonight:

• For all this talk of having a revamped wing defense, it's hard to say Los Angeles actually does. The team was frequently a step slow in covering the pass-happy Bulls, who for a team that's supposedly averse to long range shooting saw six players make two or more triples. Actually, five Chicago players nailed three or more triples. Backup guard Ayo Dosunmu led the charge, making 4-of-6. Jarred Vanderbilt and a returning Gabe Vincent, along with Cam Reddish and Taurean Prince, all seemed a bit out of sorts defensively. Prince had a very solid shooting night (he had 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the floor, including 4-of-8 shooting from distance).
• D'Angelo Russell looked absolutely terrible once again, and at this point he's practically begging Darvin Ham to bench him. I know I am. LA's supposed starting point guard scored a measly two points on 1-of-6 shooting in 27:33, and is such an unreliable presence that he has to ride pine in fourth quarters. He had just two assists and one rebound. Meanwhile, Austin Reaves -- who as you'll recall was benched in D-Lo's stead by Darvin Ham, in an effort to separate the two -- had another great night on offense, scoring 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the floor, and dishing out three dimes to boot.

James finished with 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting from the floor, 10 rebounds, nine assists, two blocks and a steal -- but also five very unhelpful turnovers, a game high. Davis, too, had a double-double, with 19 points and 14 rebounds to his credit. This was perhaps the Chicago native's best two-way moment:

AD with the steal and finish 🔒 pic.twitter.com/DA2R5jChmC

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) December 21, 2023

An interesting lineup wrinkle from Ham: he weirdly underutilized one of LA's best attributes, its size, by emphasizing occasional small-ball lineups with Rui Hachimura playing backup center minutes alongside Jarred Vanderbilt at power forward. With Vincent back, Jaxson Hayes and Christian Wood were both relegated to just 1:18 of mop-up time in the fourth quarter.

Eight Bulls scored in double digits, compared to five Lakers. It was just that kind of night.

The Lakers will have little time to sulk, however, as their three-game mini-road trip continues tomorrow night, against the team with the best record in the NBA, the 20-6 Minnesota Timberwolves. LA will have its work cut out for it: in addition to enjoying a rest advantage, Minnesota is also one of the more dominant home teams in the league at present, having gone 11-1 at