In the first quarter, there was less than a second left when I went to the sideline to inbound the ball. Feeling a moment to acquire the hottest players in the building, another shot, they rushed their new star into the game.
Donsic was troubled by the scorer’s table, unleashing a heat pack from his waist, unleashing his warm-up pants, and zipping his jacket.
James then fired a ball into the floor. But instead of finding Don Sic or the Lakers players, they’re bent badly towards courtside seats.
Donsic, a player the Lakers acquired to repair a narrow operating margin, scored easily on Saturday night, making three pointers from the entire court. He finished with 34 points. This is a carryover from a dominant attack for weeks.
But everyone else? The team, who was completely strong with James and played for the first time in two weeks, looked like a group of strangers who were badly beaten in a Chicago team nine games under .500.
It was the most points the Lakers allowed this season.
And Donsic is far from perfect, with all his shotmaking being cancelled by seven turnovers and a freed defensive performance that helped the Bulls escape.
In the first half, the Lakers (43-27) were slow and the taxes they needed to pay for play in their seventh game in 10 days. Their efforts in the first quarter were lacking, so the Bulls Guard quickly set fire to the fire and matched the Don Chic bucket for the bucket.
The Bulls (31-40) made 78.6% of their two-point shots in the first half, with the Lakers’ defense offering no resistance. They didn’t stop Chicago with the rim. They didn’t stay in front of them around. And once they got caught up in the rotation after switching, the Lakers moved to have cement in their sneakers.
The Lakers’ overall efforts were ticked into the second half. Bad news? Somehow the defense got even worse, with the Bulls scoring 81 points when they began to score shots from the entire court.
White finished with 36, with the rookie scoring 31 points for Chicago. He nearly recorded four times the Bulls’ doubles, finishing with 15 points, 17 assists, 10 rebounds and eight steels. The Bulls had seven players with at least 12 points, with eight of them scoring nine.
James looked terrible from the rhythm on both sides of the court in his first match after missing two weeks with gro caliber tension. He scored 17 points, but surpassed five times. There was a 25, but I couldn’t help the Lakers stop. And humanity, restricted to the 18th minute, left the bench and looked out and scored only five points.
The Lakers will play Orlando’s magic on Monday.
