LA Lakers Fall to Chicago Bulls in LeBron James Return, Hornets Defeat Mavs

The Chicago Bulls spoiled celebrity LeBron James’s return from a 13-game harm absence on Thursday, beating the Lakers 118-108 to tighten their maintain on the ultimate Eastern Conference play-in berth.

Zach LaVine scored 32 factors to lead the Bulls, however all eyes had been on James at Crypto.com Arena, the place the 38-year-old ahead got here off the bench for simply the second time in his 20-year NBA profession, the one different event coming in December of 2007 when he was with Cleveland.

James, sidelined since February 26 with a tendon harm in his proper foot, checked in to a standing ovation with the Lakers up 12-9 in the primary quarter — going by means of his conventional hand-chalk toss close to the scorer’s desk earlier than hitting the ground.

James led the Lakers with 19 factors in 27 and a half minutes on courtroom. Troy Brown and Malik Beasley added 18 apiece whereas Anthony Davis scored 15.

DeMar DeRozan scored 17 factors with 10 assists for the Bulls, who’re in Tenth place in the East, three video games forward of the Washington Wizards for the ultimate play-in match spot and only a hair behind Toronto for ninth.

“My hat’s off to the Chicago Bulls,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “They’re sort of fighting to get in position like we are, to secure a position. They came out with a sense of urgency tonight. We came out a little flat, turned the ball over early. We weren’t aggressive enough, physical enough. We let one slip here at home.”

The Lakers, who had gone 8-5 in James’s absence, noticed their three-game profitable streak finish.

They slipped from eighth to ninth in the Western Conference, half a sport forward of Oklahoma City and half a sport behind New Orleans and Minnesota.

Elsewhere, the Dallas Mavericks’ downward spiral continued with a 110-104 loss to the Hornets in Charlotte, the place Mavs star Luka Doncic acquired his sixteenth technical foul of the season, which is able to set off an automated one-game suspension.

Doncic scored 40 factors, nevertheless it wasn’t sufficient to stave off a second loss in three days to the hapless Hornets — who’re second-to-last in the Eastern Conference.

Gordon Hayward scored 22 factors and P.J. Washington added 21 factors with 12 rebounds for Charlotte, who’ve already been eradicated from post-season competition.

Dallas went into the day tied with Oklahoma City for the Tenth-best document in the West, however had been behind the Thunder in the race for the ultimate play-in match berth as a result of Oklahoma City maintain the tiebreaker.

Doncic obtained off to a dismal begin, going 0-for-6 from the sphere in the opening quarter. Dallas trailed by 19 late in the primary half when Doncic drilled 4 three-pointers to key a Mavs run that reduce the deficit to seven at halftime.

The Mavericks, who fell to eventual champions Golden State in the Western Conference finals final season, took their first lead of the sport on a Doncic trey with 5:44 remaining.

Charlotte shortly regained the lead and Kyrie Irving’s three-pointer to once more put the Mavs up by one proved little greater than a blip because the Hornets once more pulled away.

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