Chicago Bulls: 2 studs, 1 dud, from massive win over Lakers

In a classic that the Chicago Bulls played against the Los Angeles Lakers and superstar forward LeBron James at home at the United Center on the night of Dec. 19, we got to witness a truly exciting game. The Bulls and second-year head coach Billy Donovan got back to game action to round out the weekend in the front end of back-to-back games by taking on the Lakers on Dec. 19.

Donovan and the Bulls took their 17-10 record into this meeting with the Lakers after getting more than one week off following an outbreak of COVID-19 cases within the team. The Bulls wound up having their two games that were supposed to take place this week postponed due to all of the players they had missing in the health and safety protocol.

Chicago Bulls get a win over the Lakers to sweep the season series after a huge night from DeMar DeRozan

The Bulls were supposed to face the Detroit Pistons on Dec. 14 and Toronto Raptors on Dec. 16. But the last game that the Bulls played in resulted in a loss to the Miami Heat back on Dec. 11. The two postponements within the last week made it so that the Bulls essentially had an eight-day hiatus between games.

This meeting with the Lakers was the shot for the Bulls to get back to right the ship this season, though. With the Bulls having three games in the next four days, and two in a row coming out of the weekend, it was important to build momentum on this night against the Lakers.

And this is exactly what the Bulls delivered on Dec. 19, with a key 115-110 win over the Lakers at home at the United Center.

Here’s a look into two studs, and one dud, from the Bulls’ five-point win over the Lakers on Dec. 19.

Chicago Bulls studs from win over the Lakers: Alex Caruso

It was before facing the Lakers that the Bulls got the defensive standout point guard Alex Caruso back in the rotation. Caruso was actually dealing with a hamstring injury for the Bulls prior to this big outbreak of COVID-19 within the team in the last couple of weeks. He was back active in the rotation in the loss to the Heat last weekend.

Caruso is certainly contributing at a high level for the Bulls this season. And he stood out against his former team for the second time this season.

Playing in the starting five in this game for the Bulls in the absence of star shooting guard Zach LaVine (who is still in the league’s health and safety protocol), Caruso was great on this night. Caruso and point guard Lonzo Ball were both among the leaders in playing time in this game, both getting around 38 minutes on the floor.

Caruso gave the Bulls 17 points on a solid 6-of-11 shooting from the field, 3-of-5 from beyond the arc, and 2-of-4 from the free-throw line. He also registered nine rebounds, two assists, one steal, no blocks, and three turnovers.

The turnovers were the main issue for Caruso on this night. But his rebounding, shooting, and solid on-ball defense did more than enough to make up for those three turnovers.

As long as the Bulls are getting big-time contributions like the ones they got from Caruso in this win over the Lakers, this team should be fine without LaVine in the starting unit.

Chicago Bulls dud from win over the Lakers: Coby White

When the Bulls win games like this, it does become much more difficult to pick the one dud. But this game did have a couple of candidates to pick from, all that came off the bench. The newly signed forward Alfonzo McKinnie and point guard Coby White were both candidates to choose from for the dud on this list.

White was the selection here largely because his play fell flat outside of one very energetic dunk he had in this game. There is no doubt that the thunderous dunk that White put down in this game was a fun play for the Bulls.

Otherwise, though, the Bulls didn’t get many valuable contributions on the offensive end of the floor off the bench from White. He was also the one with the worst plus/minus in this game for the Bulls.

In a team-high 24 minutes off the bench for White in this game, he registered just five points on 2-of-7 shooting from the field, 0-of-4 from beyond the arc, and 1-of-2 from the free-throw line. And he registered one rebound, two assists, one steal, no blocks, and one turnover. That amounted to a team-low -4 in this game.

I do believe this is still going to be a process for White to find his spot in this rotation. And you are going to get nights where he shoots 2-of-7 from the field with some energetic plays otherwise. We just need to start seeing more net-positive games for him off the bench than net negatives.

Chicago Bulls studs from win over the Lakers: DeMar DeRozan

The other stud on this list for the Bulls was truly the driving force to the team getting this big five-point win over the Lakers at home to round out the weekend. Star shooting guard/forward DeMar DeRozan was huge for the Bulls on this night, giving them a game-high 38 points.

DeRozan got his whopping 38 points on 11-of-24 shooting from the field, didn’t have any attempts from beyond the arc, and 16-of-17 from the free-throw line. This is the highest number of free-throw attempts that DeRozan had in his run with the Bulls thus far through more than two-dozen games now.

It was the number of times that DeRozan got to the free-throw line that helped the Bulls to get this win in the end. If not for DeRozan’s 16 makes on 17 tries from the charity stripe, it becomes extremely difficult for the Bulls to win.

What was the most memorable part about this game for DeRozan was the way he was able to put the Lakers away. DeRozan seemed like he was draining mid-range attempt after mid-range attempt here. He also now has 50 points combined in the last three fourth quarters he’s played in.

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DeRozan also gave the Bulls four rebounds, six assists, one steal, no blocks, and three turnovers. He really didn’t turn the ball over much at all for how much usage he got in this game. The fact that DeRozan was able to excel in finding his teammates, shooting so many field goals from the mid-range, whilst still getting around 1.5 points per field goal attempt is truly impressive.

If this is going to be the version of DeRozan that the Bulls get, that still has ice in his veins in the fourth quarter, then this team is going to be fine without LaVine in the mix for a few games against teams like the Houston Rockets and Raptors. DeRozan was huge for the Bulls here and is the main reason why the Bulls beat the Lakers.