On the second end of a back-to-back, the Los Angeles Lakers once again suffered a dispiriting blowout loss, this time to the surging Chicago Bulls.
It was not much of a contest as the Bulls jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as they caught fire from the field. Their trio of guards in DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Lonzo Ball combined for 91 points, torching the Lakers from all over the floor and especially from beyond the arc.
Los Angeles had zero answers on either end of the floor as Chicago repeatedly doubled Anthony Davis while defensively they had trouble containing the Bulls in transition.
One of the biggest disparities in the game was the 3-point shooting as the Lakers shot a paltry 18.8 percent from distance versus 44.1 percent from the Bulls. Carmelo Anthony acknowledged it would be difficult to beat any team with that kind of cold shooting.
“I don’t think you’re gonna beat anybody shooting 6-for-32 from three in today’s game,” Anthony admitted. “So we can talk about all the things that went on tonight, but when you shoot 6-for-32 from three, you’re not gonna beat anybody unless you’re just on it, you’re on point in every other aspect of the game…So there’s no excuses for that, we shot 18% tonight from three.
“If we can make a couple more threes, the game might change. But it’s one of those nights. It’s just one of those nights where you’re getting a lot of the looks and we weren’t making the shots that we were taking. I don’t know what else to say about that, you just can’t beat a team when you go 6-for-32 from three. Not in today’s game.”
Outside shooting was only one problem for the Lakers, but the more concerning takeaway was how they responded after seeing the Bulls go on massive runs. For long stretches, it seemed as though L.A. was trying to find anything that could spark them, but every time Chicago responded they ran out of juice.
Injuries have often been the easiest reason to point to regarding the Purple and Gold’s poor play, but the fact of the matter is they have not played with much competitive spirit. Although Anthony is more patient than the Lakers fan base, they will need to show everyone that this type of play is not indicative of who they are.
Anthony admits matchup against Milwaukee Bucks is important
The Lakers now embark on a five-game road trip that starts with a marquee matchup against the reigning NBA Champions, the Milwaukee Bucks. Anthony admitted that the game is going to matter more than most regular-season games when asked what the goal of the road trip is
“To win Wednesday for sure. Get the win Wednesday. From that point on, you’re on the road so that first game on the road is always a big one to get. We know it’ll be tough, going in there and getting it, but we believe in ourselves. We feel like we have the team to go in there and do it. Why not go on the road and start it off with a win? Wednesday for sure is very big on our list.”
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