Lakers' bigs out muscle Bulls as circus trip opens
LOS ANGELES - Some nights, there is no need to look at the game tape before determining what went wrong.
The Bulls' big men were the major shortcoming in Tuesday's 116-109 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Kobe Bryant scored 21 points but took a long rest on the bench in the second half, content to let power forward Pau Gasol explode for 34 points, while center Andrew Bynum added 18.
The road doesn't get any easier tonight, when the Bulls will face Greg Oden and LaMarcus Aldridge in Portland.
"It's hard. You try to take something away from Kobe and then Gasol gets loose," Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said. "You try to take something away from Gasol and you don't want Kobe to get going.
"They're long and they're talented. They gave us a lot of problems. We don't have a lot of length and experience in there. Those things matter."
The Bulls (5-6) never came close to stopping Gasol, who hit 14 of 21 shots against a variety of Bulls defenders.
Drew Gooden, playing on a sore ankle, matched Gasol for a while but scored all 9 of his points in the first quarter. Joakim Noah started at center but played just 11 minutes, collecting 2 points and 5 rebounds. Aaron Gray (11 points) and Tyrus Thomas (3 blocks) had slightly more success.
"It was frustrating, but Kobe Bryant draws so much attention," Gooden said. "You throw Andrew Bynum in there and you throw Pau Gasol. You have to go blitz him, then run back and find those guys, and they're just throwing it to the rim; that makes it tough. It's a team effort. We've just got to have each other's back."
The good news was rookie Derrick Rose didn't show any stage fright in his Hollywood debut. He produced 25 points and 9 assists, while hitting 11 of 18 shots. Ben Gordon didn't shoot well (6-for-22), but he added 23 points.
Even though the Bulls scored 109 points, the Lakers were able to turn up the defense when needed. The Bulls committed 22 turnovers and had 11 shots blocked.
After the Lakers broke open a tie game with a 19-2 run midway through the second quarter, the Bulls closed within 61-56 by halftime.
But Bryant scored 2 quick baskets to open the third quarter, and a 12-2 run put the home team ahead by 15. The Bulls were playing catch-up the rest of the night and didn't pull within 10 points until late in the contest.
Bulls forward Luol Deng suffered some sort of muscle strain in his left thigh during the morning shootaround, but he took on the assignment of guarding Bryant at the start of the game. Coach Vinny Del Negro cross-matched defensively and put Gordon on 6-foot-10 Lakers forward Vladimir Radmanovic.