CHICAGO — Luka Doncic skipped, shimmied and shot. The Lakers dunked, hollered and won.
Doncic dazzled yet again with 46 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds in the Lakers’ 129-118 win over the Chicago Bulls on Monday. The Lakers (28-17) notched their fourth win in five games. It was his third game in the last four with at least 10 assists — all wins.
The 26-year-old guard scored 32 points in the second half. He mimicked shooting pistols after he laced one three-pointer. After another, late in the fourth, he skipped backward on defense away from the Bulls’ bench. Doncic’s second-half scoring barrage picked up after LeBron James scored 20 of his 24 points in the first half. Rui Hachimura added 23 points off the bench.
Hachimura, who has been coming off the bench since he returned from a calf injury two weeks ago, hit nine of 11 shots from the field, including four threes. He drained consecutive threes, both spurred by Doncic passes, in the third quarter to help the Lakers hold off a Bulls comeback.
A transition dunk from Hachimura put the Lakers up by 20 with 1:27 left in the first half. The Lakers, after struggling with airline delays leaving Dallas on Saturday night, looked as if they would cruise comfortably to a win.
Then Chicago closed the half on a 7-0 run. It grew to a 18-5 stretch that forced coach JJ Redick to call a timeout when the Lakers’ lead was cut to seven. It shrank to one with 6:42 left in the third quarter.
The Lakers answered with an 8-0 run, capped by a three-pointer from Hachimura. Doncic whipped a one-handed behind-the-back pass across the court to Gabe Vincent, who re-directed it to Hachimura. He drained the shot. On the next Lakers possession, he hit another three-pointer off a Doncic assist.
Hachimura has made eight of 12 three-point attempts in the last two games.
The starting lineup could soon shift again with Austin Reaves close to returning from a calf injury that has kept him out for more than a month. Redick said Reaves could be back as soon as Thursday’s game against Cleveland.
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