Chicago Bulls is full of faith after a fruitful road trip when they return to Illinois to host the revived Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday.
Bulls (32-40) went 4-2 on its recently completed Western Swing and continued its strong late seasonal life that has harvested eight wins from the last ten matches.
Chicago sits in ninth place in the eastern conference, a game up on Miami Heat, which holds the 10th and last play-in position and 6 1/2 matches before 11th place Toronto Raptors.
Bulls coach Billy Donovan attributes much of his team’s hot form and newfound self-confidence to star guard Coby White, which became the second Chicago player-who joined the legendary Michael Jordan-to win subsequent Player of the Week Awards.
“At the trade deadline there was a lot of talk about where we are – in between, in the middle, it is a rebuild, all that – and rightly when you looked at our record,” Donovan said. “The one thing that Coby has set in the dressing room is the fact that he thinks. It really is, really powerful when you have a group of men who believe in something.
“When they can really believe in something, many really good things can be achieved.”
White has been on a tear late and scored 35 points when Chicago beat Sacramento Kings on March 20 and added another 36 in Bull’s Blush victory over Lakers two days later, then 37 in a 129-119 victory over Denver Nuggets on Monday.
“There is a reason why he was this week’s player in the Eastern Conference for the past two weeks,” Donovan said. “He has played exceptionally well, and I can imagine around the league that they realize it. He has developed into a great player, all the way. … He deserves all the awards he has received.”
White is on average one Jordan-Esque 30.6 points per night over Chicago’s last ten matches to increase its seasonal average to 20.3.
“We will continue to be better,” White said. “We will continue to climb this mountain, continue to fight through adversities together, continue to lift each other, and we will take it one day at a time.”
Walking with White on that ascent has been Josh Giddey, who was a prominent last time Bulls and Lakers met, and fallen two steals that did not become the fifth player in the NBA story to have a quadruple double.
Lakers (44-28) snapped a three-game losing line on Wednesday when Lebron James’ Summer-Beating Tip-in outside a missed Luka Doncic Floater sealed an exciting 120-119 triumph over Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis.
Doncic finished with 34 points, seven returns and seven assists. James, however, had endured a broken offensive night before his last seconds heroics, who failed to register a field goal during the first three quarters and ended with 13 points on 4-AV-12 shooting.
Still, as he has done so many times during his decorated 22-year career, James delivered when it counted.
“We understand how horrible the wild, the Wild West is when it comes to the position,” said James, who contributed 13 returns and seven assists. “Getting a victory that was huge. We know we got another (Thursday) against a Chicago team that has been red hot. They beat us pretty bad last week. … It’s another team that will come up and down on the floor.”
Lakers moved in a tie with Idle Memphis Grizzlies for fourth place in the Western Conference, with both teams a game behind the third place Denver Nuggets.
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