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<\/p>\n
And he might be turning 41 soon, but don\u2019t write LeBron James off just yet …<\/p>\n
James took over in the clutch in an epic bounce-back performance to lead the LA Lakers past the Philadelphia 76ers.<\/p>\n
The Bulls suffered their second-biggest loss of the campaign to fall to 9-13 overall, with Josh Giddey and company now clinging to their play-in spot in the Eastern Conference by half a game. <\/p>\n
Their current losing streak of seven-straight losses \u2014 the longest active streak in the NBA \u2014 is particularly concerning given some of the opponents. <\/p>\n
They include the lowly-ranked Indiana and Brooklyn, while Billy Donovan\u2019s squad has won just three of its past 15 games.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a tough stretch they\u2019re on, this might be one of the worst stretches I\u2019ve seen a team play,\u201d Chicago commentator Stacey King said.<\/p>\n
Fellow caller Wayne Randazzo added: \u201cIt really stings, because this was supposed to be the part of the schedule to fatten up. And it\u2019s been the complete opposite, the whole balloon has deflated here based on these losses against teams at the bottom of the league.\u201d<\/p>\n
Giddey top scored for the hosts against Golden State with 16 points on 6-of-15 shooting with three rebounds and five assists. <\/p>\n
Brandin Podziemski\u2019s 21 points off the bench led the Warriors, who were still missing Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Al Horford.<\/p>\n
However Jimmy Butler returned and had 19 points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals as the Warriors tied together consecutive road wins on a back-to-back after knocking off Cleveland on Sunday. <\/p>\n
The Bulls have plenty of time to stew on this one, with the team not scheduled to play again until next Saturday in Charlotte ahead of a lighter NBA schedule in week eight due to the NBA Cup knockout-round matchups. <\/p>\n
Josh Giddey in action against Golden State (Photo by Geoff Stellfox \/ GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA \/ Getty Images via AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a team that got off to a great start and couldn\u2019t handle success. Once everybody started to figure you out and start to attack you, you weren\u2019t ready for it. That\u2019s what happens to you,\u201d King said during the third quarter.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody was talking about the Bills and excited about the Bulls (saying): \u2018The Bulls are back\u2019. We all were excited about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cRemember, this is not a sprint. This is a marathon, it\u2019s 82 games. They don\u2019t give you a championship after six games. You\u2019ve got to play the whole season. <\/p>\n
\u201cWinning made them feel good, but you\u2019ve got to maintain that level of play every time you step on the court. How you got those first five wins, you\u2019ve got to play another five games, and another five games. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to play with the same intensity every single night, you\u2019ve got to play defence every single night. That\u2019s the responsibility you have. You want to be a winning team and change the culture? Do those things, do the little things.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bulls, down by as much as 20 midway through the third quarter, came to life late in the period in their best stretch.<\/p>\n
A Giddey 3-pointer capped off a 11-0 run to get Chicago within 86-73, before Jevon Carter added another triple to cut the deficit to 10 as the crowd came to life at the United Centre.<\/p>\n
The Bulls carried that momentum into the final stanza. A Carter fastbreak layup in the first minute of the fourth term got the Bulls within single digits at for the first time since the second quarter at 87-79.<\/p>\n
But Golden State responded with an emphatic 21-2 run, led by eight points from Butler, to extend its lead to a game-high 27 at 108-81 with 6:31 remaining. <\/p>\n
Billy Donovan emptied his bench with over four minutes left to waive the white flag on an ugly performance.<\/p>\n
In Philadelphia, James scored 12 of his season-high 29 points in the fourth quarter and the Lakers outlasted the Sixers in a tight finish on the road 112-108.<\/p>\n
Just days after his record-shattering streak of 1,297 straight double-digit scoring games ended, James came up big in the clutch with an epic fourth-quarter run of 10-straight points.<\/p>\n
It was a timely reminder that James, who\u2019s production has been down across the board since missing the first 14 games of his record 23rd NBA season with a sciatica injury, still has it. <\/p>\n
With the scores tied at 105-105 with 1:29 remaining, James buried a big 3-pointer followed by a deep jumper to give LA a five-point edge. <\/p>\n
Tyrese Maxey responded with a phenomenal fadeaway triple to cut the lead to two with 7.6 seconds left and give Philly a glimmer of hope. But Luka Doncic sank a pair of free throws at the other end to ice the win. <\/p>\n
James put up 29 points on 12-of-17 shooting with seven rebounds and six assists in his best game of the season.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Doncic racked up a triple-double (31 points, 15 rebounds, 11 assists), after missing the Lakers\u2019 loss to Boston due to the birth of his second daughter, and LA improved to 17-6 overall. <\/p>\n
Maxey\u2019s 28 points led the way for the 13-10 Sixers and Joel Embiid added 16 on an inefficient 4-of-21 shooting display in his return.<\/p>\n
ALL RESULTS<\/p>\n
Magic 100 Knicks 106<\/p>\n
Celtics 121 Raptors 113<\/p>\n
Nuggets 115 Hornets 106<\/p>\n
Trail Blazers 96 Grizzlies 119<\/p>\n
Warriors 123 Bulls 91<\/p>\n
Lakers 112 76ers 108<\/p>\n
Thunder 131 Jazz 101<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"That 6-1 start for the Bulls feels like a lifetime ago now. Chicago\u2019s rut continued with a seventh-straight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[2620,5551,2095,64,63,726,684,8640,186904,7187,73337,5127,2066,6115,186898,7901,800,186901,186907,186906,2105,5552,9286,12268,91117,7902,186894,5332,1025,2041,31659,2067,12293,186899,186905,186893,186903,186896,85,145894,17205,186900,186897,2614,186895,186902],"class_list":["post-334884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-agence-france-presse","tag-al-horford","tag-america","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-ben-cotton","tag-billy-donovan","tag-blowout-defeat","tag-brooklyn","tag-charlotte","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-bulls","tag-cleveland","tag-disaster-territory","tag-draymond-green","tag-espn-inc","tag-fastbreak-layup","tag-final-stanza","tag-geoff-stellfox","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-illinois","tag-indiana","tag-j-michael-reaves","tag-jimmy-butler","tag-knockout-round-matchups","tag-losing-streak","tag-new-york","tag-north-america","tag-north-carolina","tag-northern-america","tag-ohio","tag-play-in-spot","tag-seven-straight-losses","tag-seventh-straight-loss","tag-single-night","tag-soul-searching","tag-sports","tag-stacey-king","tag-steph-curry","tag-team-play","tag-united-centre","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-wayne-randazzo","tag-worst-stretches"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}