The Chicago Bulls are brimming with belief following a fruitful road trip as they return to Illinois to host the revitalized Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday.
The Bulls (32-40) went 4-2 on their recently completed western swing, continuing their strong late-season revival that has reaped eight wins from their past 10 games.
Chicago sits in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, a game up on the Miami Heat, who hold the 10th and final play-in position, and 6 1/2 games ahead of the 11th-place Toronto Raptors.
Bulls coach Billy Donovan attributes much of his team’s hot form and newfound self-belief to star guard Coby White, who became the second Chicago player — joining the legendary Michael Jordan — to win successive Player of the Week awards.
“At the trade deadline there was a lot of talk about where we’re at — in between, in the middle, is it a rebuild, all that stuff — and rightfully so when you looked at our record,” Donovan said. “The one thing Coby has instilled in the locker room is the fact that he believes. That’s really, really powerful when you have a group of men that believe in something.
“When they can really believe in something, a lot of really good things can be accomplished.”
White has been on a tear of late, scoring 35 points when Chicago beat the Sacramento Kings on March 20, adding another 36 in the Bulls’ blowout victory over the Lakers two days later, then 37 in a 129-119 win over the Denver Nuggets on Monday.
“There’s a reason he was Player of the Week in the Eastern Conference the last two weeks,” Donovan said. “He’s played exceptionally well, and I would imagine around the league they recognize that. He’s evolved into a great player, all the way around. … He deserves all the accolades he’s gotten.”
White is averaging a Jordan-esque 30.6 points per night across Chicago’s past 10 games to boost his season average to 20.3.
“We’re going to keep getting better,” White said. “We’re going to keep climbing this mountain together, keep fighting through adversity together, keep uplifting each other, and we’re going to take it one day at a time.”
Joining White on that ascent has been Josh Giddey, who was a standout the last time the Bulls and Lakers met, falling two steals short of becoming the fifth player in NBA history to notch a quadruple-double.
The Lakers (44-28) snapped a three-game losing streak on Wednesday when LeBron James’ buzzer-beating tip-in off a missed Luka Doncic floater sealed a thrilling 120-119 triumph over the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis.
Doncic finished with 34 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. James, however, had endured a ragged offensive night prior to his last-second heroics, failing to register a field goal across the first three quarters and finishing with 13 points on 4-of-12 shooting.
Still, as he has done so many times during his decorated 22-year career, James delivered when it counted.
“We understand how gruesome the wild, wild West is when it comes to the standings,” said James, who contributed 13 rebounds and seven assists. “To get a win like that was huge. We know we’ve got another one (Thursday) against a Chicago team that’s been red-hot. They beat us pretty bad last week. … It’s another team that’s going to get up and down the floor.”
The Lakers moved into a tie with the idle Memphis Grizzlies for fourth place in the Western Conference, with both teams one game behind the third-place Denver Nuggets.
–Field Level Media
