Lakers get Their revenge on Bulls

Mar 30

The Los Angeles Lakers traveled to Chicago on Wednesday where they defeated the Bulls 121 to 110. The Lakers met up against the Bulls on Monday where the Bulls embarrassed them in Los Angeles with a final score of 118 to 108. Patrick Beverly had a lot of words for his former team in the first meeting and the Lakers looked to get him and the Bulls back.

Patrick Beverly has not been holding back against his former team as he’s stated that he wanted to knock the Lakers out of the playoffs and constantly trash talking the Lakers players. Lebron, Davis, and the rest of the Lakers heard all the talk and responded in a big way.

Anthony Davis led the Lakers with 38 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Davis was absolutely dominant in every aspect of the game, the Bulls had no answer for him. He was hitting step backs, fadeaways, all while dominating the paint. This is the type of Davis the Lakers will need if they want to make a serious run in the West.

Lebron James also looked terrific in only his second game back from his foot injury. Lebron looked very comfortable out on the court in comparison to his first game back on Monday. His midrange was lethal and the Lakers continued to feed him in a mismatch vs Zach Lavine. Lebron finished with 25 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals.

The Lakers starting back court of D’angelo Russell and Austin Reaves also torched the Bulls. They were creating shots for others while scoring at a very efficient rate. Reaves has flourished in every starting opportunity he has been given and he looked great next to Russell and Lebron for the first time in the starting five. This starting five for the Lakers looks terrific on both sides of the court.

The only negatives that came out of this matchup was Darvin Ham's coaching ability. The Lakers opened up the game with a quick 17 points lead in the first quarter. However, the Bulls quickly got themselves back into the game due to Ham’s terrible rotations. To end the 1st quarter, the Bulls went on a 12 to 2 run in the last three minutes because there wasn’t a single starter in the game for the Lakers. Ham decided to run a full bench unit which got killed by the Bulls. Hopefully Ham learns that you need to stagger Russell’s, Lebron’s, and Davis’ minutes moving forward. There should never be a point in the game where all three of them are on the bench.

Overall, the Lakers played an exceptional game led by their starters. They need to continue to play with the same aggressiveness and push forward towards the playoffs!