No Love for Lakers

The start of the Disney on Ice trip proved as beneficial as could be.  For everything tumultuous the Bulls have dealt with this season, at least they're not subjecting us to the really bad basketball the Los Angeles Lakers have displayed this year.  Everything fell into place on national TV Thursday as the Bulls blew out their hosts 114-91.  They led throughout and were never in any real trouble of falling behind.

Every active Bull scored, signifying complete domination, but as is typically the case, a few had to stand out.  Newly named All-Star reserve Jimmy Butler, who had buddy Mark Wahlberg cheering him on, had game highs of 26 points and 10 assists.  Pau Gasol hugged it out with Kobe Bryant just before tip-off, then picked his former team apart with 21 points and 12 rebounds.  Derrick Rose chipped in 16, Doug McDermott had 15 off the bench and Taj Gibson totaled 11 boards.

It's easy to feel sorry for the Lakers for how far they've fallen.  It's even easier to enjoy kicking their heads in when you're playing them.  Whatever your view on this once-proud franchise though, everyone can agree they're just not playing good basketball.  With an eight-game losing streak, they sit comfortably at the bottom of the West.

When one's team is struggling and that person looks ahead at the schedule, you would probably prefer to break out of your slump against a much better team.  The Bulls might have defeated Cleveland on the road recently, but they went right back to their losing ways against Miami the next game.  So actually, they should have been, and probably were, happy to play a team with far more issues than them.  It says a lot when you're faced with a match-up that's almost impossible for you to screw up.

Dominance doesn't come easy for the Bulls these days, although their roster makeup would suggest that shouldn't be an issue.  Anytime it's on display, we get to see how much talent exists, at least with the healthy players.  Consequently, we can see if they have the right stuff to be a winner.  They definitely do, so it's baffling why we don't get it to see it more.

The Bulls will remain in the City of Angels until they play the Clippers in a nationally televised tilt on Sunday afternoon.  This won't be a cakewalk like what we just witnessed.  The players should recognize that as they always seem to show up when the whole country is watching.  Still, the best team in the Pacific not called the Warriors will be just as into playing quality basketball.

Before I wrap up, I have a small confession.  I didn't see the first half because I was on the train coming back from the United Center.  Hey, I have a soft spot for Disney and some force in the universe was pushing me to see their ice show.  Here's how the UC looks when its tenants are forced to vacate for two weeks: