A lot was going on for the NBA In-Season Tournament champions when they faced the Chicago Bulls. Darvin Ham seemed to have a hard time containing DeMar DeRozan as the Los Angeles Lakers got steamrolled. LeBron James tried his best to try and lift up the offense but nothing was clicking. This made Magic Johnson take notice after the final buzzer sounded.

“Defense did not show up tonight in the 124-108 Lakers loss to the Chicago Bulls without Zach Levine. This is definitely a bad loss for my Lakers,” was the disappointed declaration that the legend dropped.

Magic Johnson's statement may hold a lot of merit. The Lakers allowed 54.5% of the Bulls' shots to go in from all three levels of scoring. A huge part of this was their inability to contest shots off the perimeter. DeMar DeRozan's squad knocked down 52.9% of their shots from way out.

Moreover, the Lakers' ability to grab rebounds on offense was not on display. The Bulls took advantage of this and got 41 defensive rebounds. LeBron James tried to outgun them with his near triple-double performance. But, his 25 points and nine assists were just not infectious enough for other players to heat up as much.

DeRozan, on the other hand, was torching the Lakers' defense. He put up 27 points and nine assists to lift the Bulls up to their 12th win of the season. Now, the Lakers are just hovering above the .500 mark after they slipped to a 15-win and 13-loss record. A lot of reassessment has to be made for them to get their groove back.