Lakers-Bulls Preview

By NOEY KUPCHAN
Posted Jan 21 2013 12:10AM

Frustrations appear to be taking their toll on the Los Angeles Lakers, who can't seem to right the ship.

The Chicago Bulls, in contrast, have mostly held their own, but coach Tom Thibodeau was anything but pleased with their latest effort.

The slumping Lakers try to avoid their longest road losing streak in eight seasons Monday night against a Bulls team that could be without leading scorer Luol Deng again.

Los Angeles (17-23) has lost eight of 10 overall after kicking off a three-game trek Sunday with a 108-103 defeat to Toronto. The Lakers, who fell behind by as many as 19 points in the fourth quarter, are on the verge of their first six-game losing streak in opponents' arenas since a nine-game skid in 2004-05.

"I didn't feel like we were ready to play," point guard Steve Nash said. "We cut too many corners at too many different times in the game and had too big a hole to climb out of.

"We're just not finding any consistent level out of our group."

Pau Gasol had a season-high 25 points in his return to the starting lineup and Earl Clark scored 14 to go along with a career-best 14 rebounds, but Los Angeles allowed the Raptors to shoot 54.8 percent. The Lakers played the entire second half without Dwight Howard after he received his second technical foul - and the accompanying ejection - late in the second quarter.

"We've got a lot of issues," coach Mike D'Antoni said. "Offensively the ball sticks and we don't take very good shots. Defensively, ups and downs, we forget guys."

Thibodeau also took issue with his team's performance Saturday in an 85-82 overtime loss to Memphis. Chicago (23-16), playing without Deng due to a right hamstring injury, had won seven of its previous nine games but was outscored 21-6 in transition while shooting 36.5 percent.

After trailing by as many as 17 points in the third quarter, the Bulls outscored the Grizzlies 29-16 in the fourth but couldn't keep up in the extra period.

"We just have to keep battling and battling and battling. In the end, whatever is necessary, that is what you have to do to win," Thibodeau told the Bulls' official website. "You have to get in the fight. It's physical and you can't get thrown around.

"We have to do better, we are capable of doing better."

He may feel that way about Joakim Noah, who played a season-low 27 minutes Saturday and was benched for the fourth quarter and OT.

"That's just a coaching decision," said Thibodeau, who refused to elaborate on the situation.

On a more positive note, second-year swingman Jimmy Butler scored 12 of his career-high 18 points over the final 12 minutes of regulation. Butler figures to receive a second consecutive start if Deng, averaging a team-high 17.4 points, can't go Monday.

Butler could be asked to help contain Kobe Bryant, who is coming off two particularly inefficient games. He has shot 18 of 57 (31.6 percent) from the floor in losses to Miami and Toronto, committing six turnovers in each contest.

"I've just got to rest my legs," said Bryant, averaging an NBA-leading 29.6 points. "My legs are a little tired. My shots are just short."

The Lakers had taken seven straight from the Bulls before losing the last two matchups by a combined five points. Injured superstar Derrick Rose, though, totaled 51 points in those narrow wins while Deng added 35.

Hinrich, Belinelli lead Bulls past Lakers, 95-83

By ANDREW SELIGMAN
Posted Jan 22 2013 2:01AM

CHICAGO (AP) Kobe Bryant couldn't restrain himself after this one.

It wasn't just that the Lakers lost again. It was how they did it, where they did it, and he was simply seething.

He even put out a call to ditch Mike D'Antoni's up-tempo style and post up more after Pau Gasol got moved into a reserve role.

"We're going to have to look at some things," Bryant said after Los Angeles lost 95-83 at Chicago on Monday. "We're going to have to change something. Probably going to have to post the ball a lot more, slow the game down a lot more. That's just my intuition, but that's my gut right now. I have to take a look at the film again, but we're definitely going to have to change something."

Kirk Hinrich scored a season-high 22 points, Marco Belinelli added 15 points, and the Bulls pulled away down the stretch to beat the struggling Lakers.

Belinelli came up big in the closing minutes, scoring eight points during an 18-4 run that broke a 75-75 tie and sent the Lakers to their ninth loss in 11 games.

He started it by hitting two free throws after getting fouled by Dwight Howard with 6:54 left in the game and wrapped two 3-pointers around a layup by Los Angeles' Earl Clark, making it 89-79 with 2:27 remaining.

The Lakers have now dropped six straight on the road, and this one came after D'Antoni made that lineup switch. He replaced Gasol with Clark, but the slide continued on a night when Bryant and Howard were mostly nonfactors.

"Very, very tough, very, very frustrating, trying to keep my cool," Bryant said. "It is embarassing. It is not even embarassing. I am a big history guy. Playing here in this arena with these incredible fans, you're in the house of MJ, Pippen, PJ (Phil Jackson) built, to put this kind of brand of basketball on the floor is just not acceptable."

Hinrich hit 9 of 11 shots and nailed three 3-pointers. Belinelli and Nate Robinson (11 points) also hit three, and the Bulls were 9 of 17 overall from long range.

Joakim Noah added 13 rebounds and a season-best six blocks after sitting out the final 22 minutes, 53 seconds of Saturday's loss to Memphis. He blamed himself for the benching the other night, saying, "That was all me."

Noah was angry at coach Tom Thibodeau for taking him out of the game and acknowledged saying some things he should not have. He wouldn't say if he and Thibodeau discussed the incident, but he made it clear he had no one to blame but himself.

"I admit it," he said. "It was my fault. I shouldn't have said the things that I said."

Carlos Boozer chipped in with 14 points and six rebounds. Richard Hamilton scored 13, although he shot just 6 of 18. Jimmy Butler, making his second straight start with Luol Deng (sore right hamstring) sidelined, scored 10 while trying to guard Bryant. And Chicago won this one in regulation after playing three straight overtime games.

Steve Nash led the Lakers with 18 points, but Bryant finished with just 16 on 7-of-22 shooting. That ended a run of 24 games with 20 or more points.

"Most of the looks I had tonight were tough shots," Bryant said. "Some of the credit goes to the young fellow, Butler did a good defensively. A lot of that is on me and us, having to try to manufacture something 30 feet from the hoop with a low shot clock is tough."

Howard, meanwhile, had just eight points and nine rebounds while picking up five fouls. Clark and Metta World Peace scored 12 apiece, and Gasol added 15 points and 12 rebounds in his new reserve role.

D'Antoni made the switch because he wanted a quicker lineup. Even so, it was an eye-opening move, considering Gasol scored 25 at Toronto on Sunday.

"It isn't against him, it's better for us right now," D'Antoni said before the game. "We're going to try to work through it and see what we can do. Things do change, things happen, I can't see the future but we're ready to go forward."

Clearly, Gasol wasn't thrilled by the switch. He said he's "not excited" about it, and the move caught him off guard. He's not sure about his future in Los Angeles, either.

"I have no idea," he said. "I can't really worry about something that is out of my hands so I am just going to stay positive and do my best, but it is not something I am too thrilled about. I wasn't expecting it. But right now we have bigger things to worry about as a group. As a team player that's what I'm most concern about."

NOTES: Thibodeau said star PG Derrick Rose is "very close" to starting full contact drills in practice, the next step in his recovery from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Could it happen this week? "Yeah - it could," Thibodeau said. Is it scheduled to happen this week? Thibodeau said, "It could." He also said Rose will have to go through full-contact drills "for an extended amount of time" and that he won't be playing after "one or two days of contact."

Notebook: Bulls 95, Lakers 83

Kent McDill, for NBA.com
Posted Tue Jan 22, 2013 1:42 AM - Updated Tue Jan 22, 2013 1:42 AM

THE FACTS: Led by Kirk Hinrich's 22 points, the host Chicago Bulls sent the Los Angeles Lakers to their sixth consecutive road loss, 95-83, Monday in a spirited nationally televised game. Marco Belinelli came off the bench to add 15 points for the Bulls, who led all but about one minute of the game. Steve Nash led the Lakers with 18 points, while Kobe Bryant was 7-for-22 from the field and missed all six 3-pointers he attempted to finish with 16 points, ending his 24-game streak of games with at least 20 points.

THE FACTS II: The Bulls were outscored from the free throw line 16-8, and were outrebounded by 10, 50-40. But the Bulls took 12 more shots in the game and outscored the Lakers from 3-point range 27-9.

QUOTABLE: "We're going the wrong way."

-- Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni after being asked about his goal to have the team score 105 points per game

THE STAT: Playing in place of injured starting forward Luol Deng, second-year forward Jimmy Butler played a game-high 43 minutes, scored 10 points with eight rebounds, four assists and no turnovers while defending Bryant the entire game.

THE STAT II: Lakers center Dwight Howard played 30 minutes and attempted just five shots, making two, to finish with eight points. Joakim Noah, playing inspired basketball after being benched noticeably in the loss to Memphis on Saturday, had a season-high six blocked shots and a game-high 13 rebounds in 35 minutes.

THE STAT III: The Lakers attempted 12 free throws in the first half, making seven, while the Bulls had only two, making just one.

TURNING POINT: After the Lakers took their first lead of the game, 69-67, late in the third quarter, the teams played to a 75-75 tie midway through the fourth quarter. The Bulls then scored 14 of the next 18 points, led by Belinelli and Hinrich.

INJURY UPDATE: Deng is expected to miss the rest of this week with his strained right hamstring. Before the game, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau announced that point guard Derrick Rose could begin to participate in full-contact practices later this week.

ROTATION CHANGE: D'Antoni announced before the game that Earl Clark would start at power forward for the foreseeable future, moving Pau Gasol to the bench despite Gasol's 25 points in the loss at Toronto on Sunday. Gasol had 15 points and 12 rebounds as a reserve Monday while Clark had 12 points and eight boards. The Lakers are 2-3 with Clark starting.

HOT: Hinrich had his season high in points, and made nine of 11 shots while providing seven rebounds and eight assists with only one turnover in 33 minutes. It was the best shooting night of his nine-year career when taking at least 10 shots.

NOT: Bryant is 17-for-54 (31.4 percent) from the field in the two games on this road trip.

QUOTABLE II: "He had an off-night."

-- Bulls forward Jimmy Butler, shrugging off praise for forcing Bryant into a poor shooting game.

GOOD MOVE: Before Saturday's game, Thibodeau said he had numerous options to replace Deng, but Butler seems to be the right choice, both offensively and defensively.

BAD MOVE: Deng is the league leader in minutes played per game at 39.8, and Thibodeau gets criticized for it from time to time. But apparently he likes playing his small forward most of the game, as Butler sat for just 4:31 of the game.

NOTABLE: The Bulls avoided overtime for the first time in the last four games. ... After Bulls backup center Nazr Mohammed got a technical foul for getting tangled up with Howard, Howard had a lengthy conversation with Thibodeau, perhaps to discuss the strategy of cajoling Howard into another technical foul. ... The Lakers, 5-14 on the road this season, play seven of their next 10 games on the road.

UP NEXT: For the Bulls, Wednesday vs. Detroit, Friday vs. Golden State, Saturday @ Washington. For the Lakers, Wednesday @ Memphis, Friday vs. Utah, Sunday vs. Oklahoma City Sunday.

• Lakers: Blake, Hill
• Bulls: Rose

• Lakers: --
• Bulls: Mohammed

• Lead Changes: 2
• Times Tied: 4

• Arena: United Center, Chicago, IL
• Officials: #19 James Capers, #6 Tony Brown, #58 Josh Tiven
• Attendance: 22550
• Duration: 2:18