Magic Johnson puts Lakers on notice over defense after Bulls expose key weaknesses
Since trading for Luka Doncic, the LA Lakers have looked like one of the NBA's best teams offensively. However, after their latest outing, one franchise legend pointed out a key weakness of the new-look roster.
On Saturday night, LA found themselves matched up with a young and energetic Chicago Bulls team. Even with LeBron James making a return from injury, they weren't able to get into the win column. The Bulls went out and made a statement by scoring 146 points en route a 31-point victory.
Following the blowout loss, Lakers legend Magic Johnson took to X (formerly Twitter) to give his thoughts on the matchup. He wasn't pleased with the defensive effort, saying that it's something they need to clean up ahead of the postseason.
"C'mon Lakers, where was the defense last night? There's no way they should have allowed the Chicago Bulls to score 145 points, especially getting ready for the Playoffs!"
The 146 points is the most LA has given up in a game by a wide margin. Before Saturday, the highest an opponent has scored against them this season was 134.
As Johnson said, LA doesn't want to have performances like this in the final weeks of the season. Even with their star power, it will have no chance of contending in the playoffs if it can't consistently defend.
Chicago Bulls make history in blowout win vs LA Lakers
Along with being able to spoil things for a team battling for playoff position, the Chicago Bulls made franchise history on Saturday, setting a team record for their largest margin of victory (31 points) against the LA Lakers.
It took a group effort to pick up the blowout victory over LA, but the Bulls had a trio of primary standouts. The first was Josh Giddey, who ended the night with a near quadruple-double. In 33 minutes of action, he posted a stat line of 15 points, 10 rebounds, 17 assists and eight steals.
The next player who deserves a shoutout from Chicago is Coby White. He led the charge in the scoring department, finishing with a team-high 36 points on efficient 12-for-17 shooting from the field.
Rounding things out for the Bulls was rookie forward Matas Buzelis. He set a career-high against LA, with 31 points. Most of Buzelis' damage was done from beyond the arc, converting 5-of-10 attempts.
Dropping this game could come back to bite LA. The Lakers are in an air-tight race for playoff position with the Denver Nuggets, who jumped them for third place following LA's Saturday's loss.
LA still has time to reclaim the No. 3 seed but can't afford any more lapses against teams that aren't looking to compete anymore.