The Los Angeles Lakers were able to come back against a Chicago Bulls team that grabbed an early 19-point lead, but struggled to ward off LeBron James and a strong effort from the bench. Following a 118-112 win after a 38-point fourth quarter, James had tall praise for the second unit.
“There’s going to be games where me and [Anthony Davis] will be staggered,” said James, according to Mike Trudell of Spectrum SportsNet. “As a coach, it works well for us, but tonight, AD was in foul trouble, I had pretty much played the whole third, and it called for us to not be starting in the fourtth and those guys came in and gave us a huge push.”
James is surely putting on his coaching hat well before his retirement, but his assessment is spot-on. The Lakers knocked off five straight opponents due to big performances from him and Davis, and while James did go off for a third consecutive triple-double of 30 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds, his teammates also helped pick up the slack.
Kyle Kuzma (15 points) and Quinn Cook (17 points) were huge coming off the bench, while Alex Caruso added a sprinkle of intensity as one of the favorite spark plugs off Frank Vogel's bench.
“Kuz got into a rhythm, and that's what he's capable of,” said James.
The Lakers started off the fourth in massive fashion with a 29-4 run, right on time for a rested James and Davis to put the finishing touches.
“A.D. was in foul trouble. Bron was exhausted,” said Vogel of the Lakers' predicament against the Bulls. “Both of those guys needed to stay on the bench and other guys needed to step up, and they did.”
Los Angeles has now rattled off six straight wins after losing the season-opener, quickly skyrocketing to the top spot in the Western Conference.
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