CHI 58 LAL 40
Welcome in to the halftime post of the Lakers' matchup vs. the Chicago Bulls where the Bulls lead 58-40 at the half.
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Nick Young, 8 points, 3-3 shooting. Nick Young has escaped Byron Scott's depth chart purgatory. Young equals his same point total that he finished with in Tuesday's game against the Mavs with 8 and he may look to get more to assimilate himself back into this rotation. And I think that's a good thing, especially since Lou Williams is out this game. The Lakers need instant scoring to get the offense going because Kobe Bryant is not in the condition he was once in to pick the slack. Swaggy P is coming back.
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D'Angelo Russell. 3 points, 3 turnovers, 1-3 shooting. I take back what I said about Russell's solid play in the game against the Mavs because of his 4-12 shooting I neglected to include and the reason why he got benched in that game in the 4th was that he was taking bad shots. This game, although he did improve his passing in the 2nd quarter, two consecutive turnovers to Jimmy Butler in the 1st quarter is inexcusable and it's an example of lazy play on Russell's part. Two of his misses in the game had to do with him forcing up a shot to deliver a quick answer to Chicago's easy scoring onslaught, but it failed big time. He needs to mentally check himself into this game.
Turnovers. I'm starting to beat a dead horse with this one as it's a recurring negative. It's a big reason why this Laker offense has been stagnant to start this game. Too many bad passes and one example of poor shot clock awareness in the 2nd quarter as the Lakers couldn't deliver a shot attempt in time.
Bottom Line
The good news is Chicago has been an enigma all season long. They do good against good teams, but they do poorly against bad teams. The hopeful scenario is that the Bulls' offense starts getting stagnant and they start playing conservative with their defense. The Lakers have to find some way to get the whole offense going and they need to try to make some key defensive stops to get back into this game. Let's see what happens.
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