Bulls’ Losing Streak vs. Lakers Continues In Real Time
If you liked my real-time blogging for last week’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers, you’re in luck. I’m doing it again for Tuesday’s 107–100 defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Bulls 0, Lakers 0: How many fewer celebrities show up to Lakers games without LeBron James? At least Scottie Pippen is there to support the Bulls.
Lakers 2, Bulls 0: That Kyle Kuzma dunk would not have happened had the Bulls cared at all about grabbing the first defensive rebound.
Bulls 4, Lakers 2: Hope you enjoy what might be the Bulls’ only lead. Kris Dunn helping that case with a double dribble, followed immediately by a technical foul for slamming the ball down.
Lakers 5, Bulls 4: No, I can’t believe Tyson Chandler is still playing either.
Bulls 8, Lakers 7: Wendell Carter Jr. ends a shooting drought on both sides with a putback dunk to put the Bulls back in the lead. Their luck’s probably about to run out, though. The open 3-point attempts they’re allowing the Lakers would make James Harden jealous. Still, L.A. takes a timeout.
Lakers 13, Bulls 12: We’re seeing a series of easy drives that often culminate in thunderous dunks.
Bulls 14, Lakers 13: Another nice offensive rebound from Carter leads to a big dunk from Chandler Hutchison. Carter has been everywhere in the paint on both ends during this first quarter.
Lakers 17, Bulls 16: Can’t believe just about every basket on both ends has been inside. It’s like I’m playing NBA 2K.
Lakers 19, Bulls 18: Both teams 0 for 6 from 3-point range. This can’t continue, right? I mean, it’s 2019. Actually, the Bulls now are 0 for 7 after Lauri Markkanen launched a prayer for the first-quarter buzzer. Kind of makes you long for the Golden State Warriors.
Bulls 25, Lakers 24: Jabari Parker just got height on a dunk. This is not a drill, people. And then, he gets the Bulls’ first 3.
Bulls 27, Lakers 24: A steal by Ryan Arcidiacono leads to a fast break that ends in a Shaquille Harrison layup. The Lakers call for time. They really don’t look like a team interested in taking it to the Bulls, who looked like the Showtime Lakers on that sequence.
Bulls 30, Lakers 24: Arcidiacono gets fouled beyond the arc and makes all three free throws for the Bulls’ biggest lead so far.
Bulls 30, Lakers 29: Parker didn’t go for the rebound, and Kuzma puts it back in. Jim Boylen might lose it during this timeout.
Lakers 36, Bulls 34: Neither team doing much successfully. Sloppy offense, which is bailing out bad defense.
Lakers 38, Bulls 36: Shaking my head at Dunn. Almost nothing going right offensively for him.
Lakers 42, Bulls 41: Hutchison counters Lonzo Ball’s full-court layup with his own attempt. No good, but he gets two free throws and makes them both.
Lakers 44, Bulls 43: The Bulls are right there as they go into halftime. The first 24 minutes won’t go down as the best ever, but if helps the Bulls end their seven-game losing streak, I won’t complain, even if Stephen Noh does.
Bulls 48, Lakers 46: Early in the third quarter, but at least Markkanen came out to play. Too bad he can’t prevent 24-second violations by himself.
Lakers 50, Bulls 48: Zach LaVine turns it over, leading to a layup from Chandler and a timeout from Boylen.
Lakers 56, Bulls 48: Ball hits consecutive 3-pointers, and the Lakers have the biggest lead for either team. Once again, Boylen wants to talk things over. I hope he doesn’t make them do calisthenics for that. But hey, they would fare better than me today.
Lakers 56, Bulls 51: A possession in which the ball is batted around like a volleyball ends in a Markkanen layup.
Lakers 61, Bulls 57: With Saturday Night Live returning this weekend, you have to wonder if Kenan Thompson will come back with his Lavar impression on Weekend Update to brag about Lonzo’s game tonight. So far, he leads everyone with 17 points.
Lakers 63, Bulls 59: In the past couple of minutes, LaVine and Markkanen have made fadeaway shots that MJ would be proud of.
Lakers 68, Bulls 62: Parker just blocked a shot from behind. What?
Lakers 70, Bulls 65: I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. Harrison needs a lot more love. He’s not seen as a pivotal part of the rebuild, but if he takes his game to another level, he’ll force the argument. I’m happy to see whatever success comes his way.
Lakers 72, Bulls 68: Wayne Selden hits a 3. Glad I finally get to write about him on this blog. The only other time he was in a piece of mine, I showed the tweet of the Bulls’ press release about the trade that involved him.
Lakers 76, Bulls 68: A pair of missed free throws by Harrison on one end, and a Ball layup on the other. With one quarter remaining, every point counts. Time for the defense to find another wind, or better yet, the offense to have a nice run.
Lakers 80, Bulls 72: I need to see more of Dunn being aggressive and not settling for jump shots on a night he’s struggling. That was a good start.
Lakers 80, Bulls 74: Dare I say that Parker’s defense would be a major reason for a Bulls comeback? Selden the beneficiary of the steal that led to the subsequent layup.
Lakers 80, Bulls 76: The more I see Parker making plays like that putback dunk, the more I become optimistic the Bulls can get decent value for him yet.
Lakers 87, Bulls 76: Svi Mykhailiuk finding a groove behind the 3-point line, and that’s led to the biggest Lakers lead yet. Boylen better knock some sense into his guys before the game gets away.
Lakers 91, Bulls 76: Josh Hart steals it on one end and lays it in on the other. This is going very bad all of a sudden.
Lakers 94, Bulls 76: Brandon Ingram’s jump shot makes it a 14–0 Lakers run. I think this one’s out of reach, folks. The Bulls aren’t making anything anymore.
Lakers 96, Bulls 79: My goodness. Mykhailiuk found Chandler for an alley-oop. We’ve seen quite a few of those tonight.
Lakers 98, Bulls 81: Another made bucket by Ingram. He’s had himself a quarter. Not sure what more Boylen can tell his team at this point. This skid is about to hit eight, and Boylen pulls the starters.
Lakers 98, Bulls 85: Robin Lopez hasn’t seen any action. He’s not even on a bench chair, but rather on the floor. Punishment for the scuffle in practice recently?
Lakers 100, Bulls 90: A Parker 3 gives him 14. Hopefully, this will spark interest from a few teams. But Boylen has to keep playing him, and Parker has to keep producing if any good is to come of this.
Lakers 100, Bulls 93: Hold everything. The Bulls have life. They’re punishing the Lakers for what has been a so-so game from them most of the night. There’s no way the game should be this close.
Lakers 103, Bulls 95: Parker’s stats are going to look inflated at the end of this, but even before this past minute or two, he showed he’s still worthy of minutes.
Lakers 105, Bulls 98: An Arcidiacono 3 now. The Lakers must keep making their free throws, as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope did right there.
Lakers 106, Bulls 98: Parker still playing like it’s his last game. How can you not admire what he’s done at the end here. Never mind that he just missed two free throws, one intentionally.
Lakers 107, Bulls 100: Entertaining finish here. Harrison gets three free throws and hits two, denying Lakers fans free tacos. Hey, if you’re going to go down, go down swinging and while refusing free food to the home crowd.
The Lakers are lucky to have Ball, whose well-rounded offensive game made the star of the game despite a game high of only 19 points. Caldwell-Pope shot only 4 of 11 from the field, but made 8 of 10 free throws to finish with 17 points. Kuzma had a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds. Ingram flirted with a triple-double, though he only achieved double digits in one of those categories: 16 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
Parker came off the bench to have the best shooting night for the Bulls (7 of 10) and their highest scoring total with 18 points. Markkanen scored 17, and 12 apiece came from Hutchison and Arcidiacono. Another 10 apiece came from LaVine and Harrison. Carter lived up to his reputation as a force in the middle with 10 rebounds.
The Bulls conclude their trip out West on Thursday when they visit the Denver Nuggets. Besides meeting one of the top teams in the Western Conference, they get to see one the players who got away in the trade for Doug McDermott: Gary Harris, who’s averaging 16 points a game. At worst, they’ll meet him on the bench as he continues to deal with left hamstring tightness. But if he gets a chance to play, watch out, injury or no injury.
