LOS ANGELES — D’Angelo Russell got hot from 3-point land,sinking eight en route to 29 points to lead the LA Lakers past the Chicago Bulls, 141-132, at the Crypto.com Arena.
LeBron James added 25 points and 12 rebounds while Anthony Davis had 22 and 11 as the Lakers improved to 23-23 for the season to stay in the hunt for an outright playoffs berth.
The Lakers broke a close game wide open with a 42-point second quarter. The score stood 45-43 ballgame at the 8:27 mark before the break when Los Angeles erupted with a 28-14 run to take a 16-point cushion entering the third quarter.
“We’re just playing the right way. Guys are feeling confortable out there,” James said after his team shot an efficient 60 percent from the field (53-of-87) and a high 64.5 percent from three-point range (20-of-31).
“We got guys that can make shots. We got guys that can make plays. Doesn’t matter who’s shooting,” James added.
Paced by DeMar DeRozan’s 32 points, the Bulls had six players scoring in double figures and the team ended up connecting 53.4 perent from the field and 32.4 percent from 3 but the Lakers were too hot to handle, building as much as a 24-point second half advantage.
The Bulls careened to their second straight defeat and fell to 23-25, ninth in the Eastern Conference.
“We fouled them too much. They shot astronomically well. The turnovers, and the close of the second quarter really hurt us,”Bulls coach Billy Donovan rued.
