Bulls outplay Lakers, spoil LeBron James’ return from injury

LOS ANGELES — Coming off the bench for just the second time in his career, LeBron James still made his check-in a spectacle.

Roughly 5 1/2 minutes into the game, the 38-year-old stepped the scorer’s table, and the home crowd’s volume began to rise as he shook the chalk dust into his hands. Then as he tossed it into the air, a roar rose with it.

The Lakers have been hot over the last month and a half, and James’ arrival after a 13-game layoff due to injury seemed like it might ramp up that momentum even more. But on Sunday, the franchise star’s return could not cure all that ails the Lakers (37-38), who were outplayed nearly start to finish in a 118-108 defeat to the Chicago Bulls (36-38).

James was happy to be back on the court after a four-week recovery that defied some of the medical expertise he sought when he tore a tendon in his right foot. But he would have traded the pomp of his comeback for a victory to celebrate as well. Part of his rush was seeing his team go 8-5 without him, putting the Lakers in position to be in the postseason.

“To hell with the play-in — we actually can be a top-eight seed,” he said. “That definitely changed my mindset on me coming back and trying to be a part of this.”

Even with James making a stunning return to the fold, the Lakers got checked in a loss that dropped them down to ninth place in the West. It ended a three-game win streak and wasn’t especially encouraging given that the Lakers have to turn around and play the Bulls again Wednesday in Chicago.

James’ return doesn’t clear up much of the Lakers’ injury uncertainty, either. While James was able to spin, plant and sprint on his injured foot which he hadn’t played on since a Feb. 26 win in Dallas, it’s uncertain how many of the Lakers’ final seven games he’ll play in as the team tries to manage his health for the playoffs. The team also played without D’Angelo Russell for the second straight game as the point guard dealt with right hip soreness.

There was plenty of juice to a game between two teams at the fringe of the playoff race, including plenty of pre-game trash talking from former Laker Patrick Beverley. James’ quick escalation off the injury report only amped up the volume, and he wound up with a team-high 19 points and 8 rebounds on 6 for 11 shooting.

But ultimately, a lack of defensive intensity — the very thing that has driven the team’s turnaround after the trade deadline, was the key factor more than any individual player. The Lakers have boasted the league’s third-best defensive rating since the All-Star break (110.4), which helped them go 8-5 without James. But they couldn’t stay in front of Zach LaVine’s weaving drives or keep a lid on Chicago’s bench shooters, and they were bothered in the paint and on the glass by the Bulls’ physicality.

“We weren’t aggressive enough, physical enough,” coach Darvin Ham said. “I thought they were great defensively on that side.”

The Lakers also coughed up 18 turnovers, twice as many as Chicago, and gave up a whopping 34 points on those giveaways.

Anthony Davis labored again for offensive touches, scoring 15 points on just eight shot attempts. The Bulls — who have had the NBA’s best defense since All-Star — hammered him with double-teams. But the Lakers’ shooters couldn’t punish them, either: The team was just 13 for 36 from deep. Troy Brown Jr. was the team’s best offensive weapon early, finishing with 18 points, while Malik Beasley (18 points) heated up late when the Lakers tried eating into Chicago’s 21-point lead.

There was a small flicker of hope with 1:30 remaining, after Beasley hit his fifth 3-pointer and brought the game within eight points. But Beverley got the last laugh, hitting a turnaround hook over James and gesturing “too small” on the court and howling to himself.

Lavine, a UCLA product, finished with a game-high 32 points. Compton native DeMar DeRozan had 17 points.

In the larger picture, James is hoping that his earlier return will mean he’ll find his rhythm faster than he would have if he had missed more games. James said he eschewed the recommendation of two doctors to get surgery on his foot, going instead to “the LeBron James of feet,” as he put it. Doctors have told him that he’s recovering faster than anyone they’ve seen with a torn foot tendon, and while James wasn’t always explosive on Sunday, he wound down his pregame warmup with a few dunks that told him he would be good to play.

“It’s mostly the take off and the landing, exploding, things of that nature,” he said. “Once I knew I could do that, I felt confident I could play.”

As fired up for his first game in a month as the home crowd was, James himself was slow-starting. It took him nearly four minutes to attempt his first shot, a driving baseline layup. James did a chunk of his first-half damage on the free throw line.

But as much as the Lakers could have used a hit of offense, the other side of the ball held up much more poorly. LaVine caught a rhythm on pick-and-roll drives, while Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu hit 3-pointers that had Chicago up by 20 points even by the second quarter.

But James also helped curb a few Chicago rallies, including bringing the 20-point deficit to just eight at halftime. Davis could see flickers of James’ fully realized game, even at the moments when he was still knocking off rust.

“I just know coming off of injury, you’re kind of thinking about it, testing it out,” Davis said. “But he looked well on the floor, played well, had a block. … I’m pretty sure Wednesday, he’ll be himself.”