Lakers blast Bulls to close out Summer League play

by Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - Sun Jul 21 10:59:39 GMT-05:00 2024

LAS VEGAS — Coming off a dramatic overtime win against the Hawks on Friday, the Bulls were back on the court Saturday as they concluded Summer League play. With a chance to finish the Summer with a winning record, the Bulls had a tall task in front of them as they faced off against the Los Angeles Lakers.

For the most part, Chicago has been very competitive throughout the Summer, and stingy defense has been the difference. However, when their defense fails, as it did on Saturday, the Bulls once again proved that they don't have enough shooting to compete with the high-powered offenses, as the Lakers made quick work of the Bulls 107-81.

It was a painful loss for the Bulls, who closed out their Summer League portion of the schedule with a 2-3 mark and will now turn their attention to getting ready for training camp in just over a month. With Billy Donovan III electing to sit both Julian Phillips and Adama Sanogo in this one, Chicago was going to be down of their big three contributors, which put them at a major disadvantage before the game even started.

That meant that the Bulls needed other players to step up, and Dereon Seabron was one of them. Seabron led the Bulls with 18 points. Seabron had a very quiet summer up until this game, and he made the most of his opportunity with the extended minutes he was given. He added five assists and four rebounds along with those 18 points as he flashed a full arsenal of skills on the floor.

He was the only one to finish with more than 15 points for the Bulls, and when that happens, wins are going to be tough to come by. Chicago did, however, have three other players land in double figures, one of them being first-round pick Matas Buzelis. For the most part, Buzelis has had an incredible summer, but he has struggled at times to shoot the ball.

You saw that on Friday and again on Saturday, as he came away with just 10 points. One night, after setting the gym on fire with 37 points, DJ Stewart had to battle through a rough shooting night of his own, and he also finished with 10 points. If anything, Stewart has done more than enough to earn a spot on the Windy City Bulls, and who knows what can happen from there.

Rounding out Chicago's strong performances was Henri Drell, who capped off a rough summer by dropping 10 points. He can now focus on what is to come this season. Chicago also saw undrafted rookie Marcus Domask get some minutes on the floor as he picked up five points in the losing effort.

Despite finishing 3-2 this Summer, the Lakers received a lot of attention over the past two weeks, and a lot of that was due to Bronny James and his performance on the floor. Say what you will about his horrendous shooting at times, but James has the tools to become a great player in this league once he gets more comfortable with the competition.

Evidently, the Lakers saw enough out of him this Summer, as he was given the night off, as was their first-round pick, Dalton Knecht, whom the Bulls were rumored to be in on draft night. Those two left a big hole in the Lakers' lineup, but that didn't stop them from going out and having one of their best showings of the Summer.

Blake Hinson led all scorers with 25 points. He had the hot hand all night, connecting for five of the Lakers' 16 triples, which was one of the biggest differences in the game. Speaking of knocking down shots from deep, Quincy Olivari couldn't be stopped from behind the arc. He added six triples to finish with 20 points, and those two combined for more than half of the Bulls' total points.

Anytime you can get two players to score at least 20 points in a summer league game, your chances of winning significantly improve, but with four players scoring nearly 80 points, you can see the overall production they had in their lineup from top to bottom. Vincent Valerio-Bodon and Moses Brown stepped up in a big way, adding 10 points each to close out the double-digit scorers for the Lakers.

Los Angeles also saw strong showings from Tommy Kuhse (8 points), Sean East II (9 points), and Mohamed Diarra (7 points) to top the Bulls. Chicago will now figure out which players from their summer league team will get invited to camp and which ones will either be released or sent to Windy City.