Ironically, on a night when the Bulls seemingly could not miss from three, the Lakers had one of their best defensive performances of the season. The box score does not bear it out too much, but that felt as locked in as the team has been defensively in some time.
It tailed off a bit in the fourth, but LA was creating turnovers and finishing stops with rebounds to end the possession. It was a strong showing on that end and even when Chicago opened the second half with a barrage of baskets, LA stayed focused and had a response that kept the game from resembling Saturday’s in Dallas.
So, let’s dive into the win. As always, grades are based on expectations for each player. A “B” grade represents the average performance for that player.
33 minutes, 8 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 foul, 3-6 FG, 2-4 3PT, -9
One thing I really appreciate about LaRavia is how often he is just running around the court. He’s really the perfect glue guy type.
The perfect sequence of that saw him chase a long rebound into the corner only to be beaten to the ball by a Bull. He hustled back, got in front of Nikola Vučević after an early three and boxed him out to secure the board on the other end.
It’s probably an aspect I don’t give him enough credit for.
33 minutes, 24 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls, 9-19 FG, 1-4 3PT, 5-6 FT, -14
A great three quarters for LeBron before a relatively quiet close. He had some ugly misses, but also some big fastbreak dunks. Another strong defensive night from him as well.
22 minutes, 6 points, 2 rebounds, 1 foul, 3-6 FG, -15
This is the fourth straight game that Ayton has not closed. One of those games was the Nuggets game when he got poked in the ye, but it’s still an interesting development.
32 minutes, 12 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 4 fouls, 3-6 FG, 1-3 3PT, 5-7 FT, +5
This was about as steady a game as you could expect from Smart. Hig biggest contribution to Bulls fans, though, were the two missed freebies at the end.
38 minutes, 46 points, 7 rebounds, 11 assists, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls, 15-25 FG, 8-14 3PT, 8-12 FT, +6
This was as easy as it’s looked for Luka in a long time. It was perhaps his best performance from three this season. It also featured Luka closing a game out with some big threes, which hasn’t happened too often this year. That could be a sign of him and Redick finding better ways to pace things throughout the first three periods.
23 minutes, 8 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 2 fouls, 3-4 FG, 2-2 FT, +26
So, yeah, there’s one obvious highlight for Hayes from this one.
That was both cool and terrifying at the same time as he seemed to barely pull it off. Outside of that, I thought Hayes was actually really good defensively as he was part of some switching units that led to him needing to fly out to close outs on the perimeter which he did well.
12 minutes, 1 rebound, 3 assist, 0-2 FG, 0-1 3PT, +13
His best play was catching an insane Luka behind-the-back crosscourt pass and opting to pass to Rui, who hit the three.
29 minutes, 23 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 foul, 9-11 FG, 4-5 3PT, 1-2 FT, +22
After a strong fourth quarter in Dallas, Rui put together four great quarters in Chicago. He was red hot from the jump and gave the Lakers a huge boost off the bench, something they’ve rarely had this season.
17 minutes, 2 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 1-3 FG, 0-2 3PT, +21
A good showing overall from Vando, who was part of a couple of lineups that made big runs.
Pour one out for Timme’s face after taking that nasty blow to the head.
Monday’s DNPs: Bronny James, Maxi Kleber, Dalton Knecht
Monday’s inactives: Adou Thiero, Chris Mañon, Austin Reaves, Nick Smith Jr.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
