The Los Angeles Lakers were at full strength with the return of Rui Hachimura and LeBron James on Saturday night. However, the Chicago Bulls defeated them decisively with a 146-115 victory, pushing the Lakers down to the No. 3 or 4 seed with 12 games left in the season.
The Lakers have the same number of losses as the Denver Nuggets and are likely to win the tiebreaker against Denver because they are expected to win their division.
Hachimura returned after a month due to a knee injury, and James was back after missing six games with a groin injury. The Lakers` defense struggled in James`s absence, going 3-3. This defensive weakness was evident again on Saturday as Chicago scored very easily.
James showed rust in his comeback game, scoring 17 points on 16 shots with five turnovers. He also missed several free throws and had a game-worst plus/minus of -27 in 31 minutes.
For the Lakers, a positive aspect is Luka Dončić`s continued strong performance, suggesting a potentially dominant postseason. After a period of adjustment, Dončić is playing exceptionally well, starting strong with 17 points in the first quarter on Saturday, totaling 38 points in his last two first quarters.
Dončić is known for his strong first quarters, and he was particularly effective on Saturday, scoring 29 points with seven 3-pointers in the first half.
Dončić ended the game against Chicago with 34 points, following 31 against Denver and 45 against Milwaukee recently. In his last 10 games, he has averaged 31.1 points with 43% three-point shooting on 11 attempts per game.
Beyond statistics, Dončić is visibly comfortable with the Lakers. LeBron seems to have passed the leadership to Dončić. Despite the loss to the Bulls, Dončić`s performance offers optimism for the Lakers` postseason prospects.
