Late charge pushes Lakers past Bulls
LOS ANGELES: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 11 of his 21 points in the closing minutes as the Los Angeles Lakers rallied from a 19-point, second-half deficit to defeat the Chicago Bulls 103- 94 on Tuesday at Staples Center.
Kyle Kuzma scored a game-high 22 points, Brandon Ingram added 17 points, Jordan Clarkson scored 12 off the bench and Julius Randle contributed 10 in a reserve role for Los Angeles ( 8-10).
Denzel Valentine shot 5 of 7 from 3-point range and scored 17 points to lead five starters in double figures for the Bulls (3-12).
Antonio Blakeney, on a two-way contract that allows him to split time between the Bulls and their G-League affi liate, the Windy City Bulls, scored 15 off the bench for Chicago.
The Lakers rallied to tie the score at 80 on a layup by Josh Hart with 9: 32 left. Los Angeles fi nally went ahead 89- 87 when CaldwellPope put back a missed 3-pointer with 3: 06 remaining. Caldwell-Pope followed with two 3-pointers that stretched the lead to five each time, and the Lakers kept Chicago from getting back within one possession.
The Bulls took their biggest lead at 61- 42 with 10: 29 left in the third quarter. An 8- 2 run pulled Los Angeles within 13, but the Lakers didn’t begin to make a charge until Clarkson replaced Lonzo Ball and joined Kuzma, Randle, CaldwellPope and Hart.
The Lakers cut the deficit to one on a 3-pointer by Clarkson with 35 seconds left in the third quarter and then trailed 75-72 entering the fourth. Behind double- digit first- half scoring efforts from Blakeney (15), Robin Lopez (12) and Valentine (11), the Bulls led by as many as 18 before taking a 56- 42 lead into the break.
Blakeney entered with 4: 58 left in the fi rst quarter and scored 15 points in his fi rst eight minutes, including 11 straight for the Bulls during one stretch, helping Chicago to a 41-26 lead.