After opening the post-break portion of their schedule with games against the top two teams in the Eastern Conference, the Bulls get a breather when they host the lowly Lakers. Chicago blasted LA 114-91 when the clubs met at Staples Center back on Jan. 28.
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LOOK AHEAD
The Lakers’ nightmarish season continues as they begin a three-game road trip with the Bulls in the first game of a back-to-back set. LA opened after the break with a home game against the Spurs and will finish off the trip in a span of four days. The Lakers visit Milwaukee on Monday and Memphis on Wednesday. The Lakers are one of the worst road teams in the NBA coming in with a 5-26 record, just one win better than Phoenix in the West. They are a decent 15-16 ATS, however, and covered in each of their last five away games.
It’s not a good way to begin the second half of the season for a team dealing with a rash of injuries. The Bulls opened the post-break portion of their schedule with a back-to-back against the top teams in the East, opening at Cleveland before hosting the Raptors on Friday. Chicago completes a stretch of three games in four nights by taking on the Lakers Sunday night. At least for the Bulls, the final two games of that stretch are at home where they went 16-10 SU and 9-17 ATS during the pre-break portion of their schedule.
INJURIES
The Lakers are hopeful Larry Nance Jr. will be able to return to practice before the second half resumes. Nance missed the final six games before the All-Star break while dealing with soreness in his right knee. The rookie appears to have responded will to rest and treatment over the break and could be cleared to play this week.
Jimmy Butler remains out with a strained left knee and he made it clear he will listen to his body rather than the timeline estimated for his return. Nikola Mirotic is rehabbing from two surgeries – an appendectomy and hematoma removal after complications. Taj Gibson is questionable after a foot injury in the team’s final game before the break led to a brief hospital stay.
KEY MATCHUP
Welcome to the end of Kobe Bryant’s career. Twenty years have been reduced to two months for one of the game’s greatest ever, and as he makes his final rounds across NBA cities, he’s sure to put on a show. Kobe appears to be recovered from the assortment of injuries that led to a horrendous start. His play has improved and the numbers have also. But the Lakers remain a train wreck, all but tossing this campaign away with hopes of keeping their protected top-three pick. It appears more likely now that they will be able to do that. So, in the meantime, it’s Kobe’s show. The organization stated at the beginning of the season that this was dedicated to Bryant. It didn’t leave the younger players with much reason to improve their games as it was all about No. 24. Now it’s time for Bryant to not disappoint. Bryant started the month of February with a 38-point outburst against Minnesota and is enjoying the finest month of the season averaging 25.2 points while hitting 22 three-pointers in five games. Kobe will get one last chance to wow the Chicago faithful, and he won’t disappoint.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
It would be easy to write the Lakers off in this game simply because they are a mess and can’t win on the road. But, the Bulls will give them a challenge after their own horrible stretch to close out the first half of the schedule. The good news for Chicago is that they had some time to adjust to the loss of Butler and Mirotic. There are some talented players on the roster, but playing out of position when two regulars go down makes rotations a mess. The Bulls can overcome that. The Lakers can’t overcome the overall lack of talent and horrendous defense. They counter that with awful shooting and coaching, which leads to the worst season in franchise history. Chicago easily handled LA on Jan. 28, posting one of only two wins on their seven-game road trip completed just prior to the All-Star Break.
Chicago 106, Los Angeles 98
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