NBA: Bulls beat Lakers in LeBron's return, Cavaliers clinch playoff berth

Published: Monday, March 27, 2023 at 12:00 am

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It's the first time since 1998 that the Cavaliers have reached the playoffs without James, whose 20-year NBA career has included two stints with his hometown team, where he won one of his four titles in 2016.
James said Sunday that the chance to challenge for a fifth title overall, and a second with the Lakers, had driven his rapid return from what he revealed was a torn tendon in his right foot.
All eyes were on the 38-year-old forward at Crypto.com Arena, where he came off the bench for just the second time in his career -- the only other occasion coming in December of 2007 when he was with Cleveland.
James checked in to a standing ovation with the Lakers up 12-9 in the first quarter -- going through his traditional hand-chalk toss near the scorer's table before hitting the floor.
He led the Lakers with 19 points in 27 and a half minutes on court. Troy Brown and Malik Beasley added 18 apiece while Anthony Davis scored 15.
But the Bulls crashed the party, Zach LaVine scoring 32 points and DeMar De Rozan adding 17 points and 10 assists as Chicago gave themselves a three-game cushion over the Washington Wizards for the 10th place in the East.
"They came out with a sense of urgency tonight," Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. "We came out a little flat, turned the ball over early. We weren't aggressive enough, physical enough."
The Lakers, who had gone 8-5 in James's absence, saw their three-game winning streak end.
They slipped from eighth to ninth in the Western Conference, half a game ahead of Oklahoma City and half a game behind New Orleans and Minnesota.
James said seeing his teammates claw out wins in his absence had spurred his injury return.
"It definitely changed my mindset on me coming back and trying to be a part of this. Well, I don't even want to say changed my mindset. It just enhanced what I was trying to do as far as my workouts, as far as my treatment and everything."
Elsewhere, Jaylen Brown scored 41 points and pulled down 13 rebounds to lead the Boston Celtics to a 137-93 home rout of the San Antonio Spurs.
The injury absence of leading scorer Jayson Tatum was no problem for the Celtics, who kept the pressure on Milwaukee in the race for top seed in the East.
Morant leads Grizzlies
Ja Morant returned to the Memphis starting lineup after coming off the bench in his first two games back from suspension, scoring 27 points to lead the Grizzlies in a 123-119 victory over the Hawks in Atlanta.
Desmond Bane added 25 points as the Grizzlies, second in the West, fended off Atlanta's late challenge to push their winning streak to six games.
The Dallas Mavericks' downward spiral continued with a 110-104 loss to the Hornets in Charlotte, where Mavs star Luka Doncic received his 16th technical foul of the season, which will trigger an automatic one-game suspension.
After failing to make a basket in the first quarter Doncic finished with 40 points, but it wasn't enough to stave off a second loss in three days to the hapless Hornets -- who are second-to-last in the Eastern Conference.
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