DeMar DeRozan had 27 points, nine assists and seven rebounds, and the Chicago Bulls beat LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers 124-108 on Wednesday night.
Chicago shot 54.5% from the field and had eight players score in double figures. Coby White had 17 points and reserve Ayo Dosunmu added 14. Nikola Vucevic had 13 points and 10 rebounds for his 16th double-double of the season.
“We was going through it,” DeRozan said of the Bulls’ 5-14 start to the season. “Sometimes you’ve got to go through it so you can find a different type of motivation that you can come together with. The best relationships come out of that.”
“Anytime you lose a really, really great player, and a talented player, gifted player like Zach, I think it always hurts you,” said Bulls coach Billy Donovan, whose team is 7-3 since LaVine’s injury. “I’m certainly hopeful when he gets himself healthy he can get back to where he was. I think with what he was dealing with his foot for a long period of time, I’m not so sure that he was ever right.”
James had 25 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists for Los Angeles, falling just shy of a second consecutive triple-double. Anthony Davis had 19 points and 14 rebounds in his hometown.
The Lakers have dropped four of five since winning the NBA In-Season Tournament.
Trailing by as many as 18 points early in the second quarter, Los Angeles repeatedly trimmed the deficit to as low as two as late as halfway through the third quarter, but couldn’t overtake DeRozan and Chicago.