The Bulls completely dismantled the Laker's defense, dropping 146 points in a home loss on Saturday.
The Lakers received some positive news after a brutal six-game stretch in eight days on Saturday as Rui Hachimura and LeBron James returned to the team’s lineup after long absences.
That was about all the positive news they would get on Saturday.
Luka Dončić was nothing short of brilliant to start. He scored 29 points in the first half, connecting on seven of his ten threes. However, the Laker's defense — or lack thereof — spoiled it.
Since the new year, the Lakers have sported the sixth-ranked defense in the league. At its best, this team plays an active, helping style to keep defenses guessing. At its worst, it is a disconnected group with severe size disadvantages.
“That was the worst our defenses has looked, frankly, maybe all year, but certainly in the last three months.” head coach J.J Redick said following the 146-115 loss.
Chicago started 6’10 Nikola Vučević at center — a highly skilled offensive big man who provides a five-out look for a team filled with quick and clever ball handlers. Watch below as he scores the Bulls' first basket on a routine kickback from Josh Giddey.
Jaxson Hayes instinctually runs into the paint to offer support, leaving Vučević open from the top of the arc. It seems like an innocent score, but this shot and the threat it causes helped neutralize where help can come from.
The Lakers prefer to play an aggressive style of constant help and recover defense while keeping someone at the basket. An extra shooting threat from the center position makes that much more difficult.
The promising rookie Matas Buzelis, who dropped a career-high 31 points, took advantage a few plays later. Watch below as he quickly drives by Dončić and gets a monstrous flush as all four other Lakers spectate. Hayes refuses to commit, fearing Vučević’s outside threat.
With that being said, Dončić can’t give up the baseline this easy, and even if Hayes does not have help responsibility, someone should. Poor effort and poor execution is the recipe to giving up 146 points on your home floor.
With James and Hachimura returning, Redick returned to small ball in the non-Hayes minutes and Lakers two-way center Christian Koloko was removed from the rotation. These units are where the Bulls extended their lead.
Chicago moved Vučević from largely being a spacer to a post up hub of the offense to take advantage of the size mismatch. Watch below as he comes to set the screen and slips it, a counter against switching defenses.
Vucevic gets behind Hachimura and gets two taps at the basket, basically playing volleyball while the Lakers watch. After collapsing the defense, he finds Colby White for three of his game-leading 36 points. This pushed the lead into double figures, and the Lakers never threatened again.
James and Hachimura understandably were less active and bouncy on their first games back, necessary traits for this defensive style. Even so, the Lakers need to find ways to counter these size issues that will definitely arise again in the future.
Finally, the Lakers got mauled in transition. A young, struggling team figured out the Lakers wanted no part of joining a track meet. A lot of these plays were self-induced with mindless passing decisions.
Bad offense leads to bad defense.
“I think they scored a lot of transition points.” Dončić said. “Especially off my turnovers. I got to do that better. I can’t be losing the ball seven times. That’s way too many for me.”
Watch on the play below as Dončić attempts to thread this into traffic, leading to easy transition points the other way.
These turnovers will happen throughout a game. What can’t happen is Giddey getting an unimpeded follow-up tip in after beginning his run from the opposite restricted area.
The Bulls dominated all facets of this game, including 30-12 in transition points, and a whopping 74 points scored in the paint in what was just a porous defensive outing from the entire team.
The team begins a four-game trip starting Monday in Orlando and will need a much better defensive output if they want to keep their push up the standings.
