In the end, LeBron James was no longer interested in returning to the Los Angeles Lakers for the stretch run due to the muddled state of the Western Conference postseason picture.
James played his first game since recovering from a tendon injury in his right foot on Sunday, scoring a team-high 19 points in his 13-game comeback. James is expected to be ready for more when Los Angeles visits the Bulls on Wednesday night, even though it wasn’t enough in the Lakers’ 118-108 home loss to Chicago.
The Lakers (37-38), who went into Tuesday’s game in ninth place in the West, lost on Sunday, snapping a three-game winning streak. The gap between the sixth-place team in the conference and the 10th-place team prior to Tuesday’s action was just 1 1/2 games.
In a similar predicament in the East, Chicago (36-39) entered Tuesday as the No. 10 seed and the final play-in spot in their possession. The Bulls are three games ahead of the Washington Wizards for the final play-in slot with seven regular-season games remaining.
Monday, the Bulls were defeated by the Los Angeles Clippers 124-112 to end a three-game West Coast road trip. The Clippers were able to shoot 59.3% from the field and 50% (20-for-40) from long range against Chicago.
In contrast, the Bulls’ defense against the Lakers on Sunday in the same building was more disciplined.
For the second season in a row, the Bulls want to beat the Lakers in the season series.
They are aware that in order to do so, they will need to quickly forget about their anger from the Clippers game.
The Bulls were without Alex Caruso and Javonte Green because of injuries to their feet and knees. The two players are recorded as problematic for Wednesday.
Chicago’s offense against the Clippers was led by Zach LaVine (23 points), DeMar DeRozan (21 points), and Nikola Vucevic (20 points).
