LeBron James came back from a two-week injury break on Saturday night, looking rested and ready to help the Los Angeles Lakers push toward the postseason.
However, the Lakers faced a tough 146-115 loss to the Chicago Bulls, with very little going right for them.
“We’ve got to play better basketball than we did tonight, and what we did on our last road trip,” James said before the Lakers left for a four-game road trip, starting in Orlando on Monday.
James scored 17 points after missing the Lakers’ previous seven games due to a strained left groin, but the NBA’s all-time leading scorer seemed a bit rusty at times, especially late in the first quarter when he threw a long sideline inbounds pass that sailed out of bounds without getting close to one of his teammates.
But James’ return was just one part of a poor performance by the Lakers, who lost their second straight game and reached another low point in their up-and-down season since acquiring Luka Doncic.
Even the return of starting forward Rui Hachimura, who had been out for 12 games with a knee injury, couldn’t help the Lakers against the motivated Bulls.
“I don’t know if we assumed because we had everybody back that it was just going to be like it was three weeks ago, and that’s just not how this works,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “The thing that we have talked about all season long, though, is grace, so the group inherently gets some grace for what these last three weeks has looked like. (But) that was the worst our defense has looked, frankly, all year, but certainly in the last three months.”
The Lakers have been strong for long stretches with their new superstar duo, but they’ve also had enough poor performances to show they still have a lot of work ahead. Their schedule has been tough, with 20 games in five weeks, including five home games in seven days.
The 40-year-old James is still confident the Lakers will find their best form. Before his injury, they had won eight straight games, and they managed a three-game winning streak earlier this week before he came back.
LeBron James and Kevin Hunter in the 2nd half“I already know what this team is capable of,” James said. “No matter who’s been in the lineup, who’s been out of the lineup, we’ve been able to sustain our effort and try to continue to play the right way, both offensively and defensively. It was great to see, even through some of the adversity, even through the injuries and the schedule, we were still able to win ballgames.”
James didn’t give a clear answer about how his groin injury was healing, which happened late in the Lakers’ loss to Boston on March 8. Los Angeles lost all four games on that road trip but then won three straight at home before their current two-game losing streak.
“I just take it day by day,” James said about his injury. “I can’t work out what’s going to happen in the future, but obviously I got some work on it today. Hopefully a little more on the plane. It’s a long flight to Orlando, and then I’ll get ready for Monday. I hope it’s behind, but I won’t look too far in the future.”
Before the injury, James was averaging 25.0 points, 8.5 assists, and 8.2 rebounds in his 22nd NBA season.
Hachimura, the Lakers’ fourth-leading scorer with 13.3 points per game, scored five points in only 18 minutes during his first game back. He said his knee is “70, 80 percent” healthy, but he’s eager for it to fully recover.
“Our defense was awful today,” Hachimura said. “We weren’t locked in, and our game plans, we didn’t execute. They were getting everything — 3s, transition, layups, whatever. I think we’ve just got to focus on defense. Our offense is going to be fine. We know that.”
Los Angeles lost to Milwaukee on Thursday without Doncic and Austin Reaves, who were also out, leaving the Lakers without four usual starters as they played their sixth game in eight days. Doncic and Reaves combined for 59 points against Chicago, but their teammates couldn’t keep up.
“We just haven’t had a lot of time with our full team available,” Redick said. “We’ve had to manage this all season long, no matter which version of this team it’s been. So I’m excited for these last 13 games to build some continuity, build some chemistry, and hopefully the way we were playing before the Boston game, we can kind of get back to that.”
