(Los Angeles) The Lakers and their returning star LeBron James lost (108-118) to the Chicago Bulls on Sunday as the race for the NBA playoffs grew tighter.
Earlier in the day, the Dallas Mavericks lost (110-104) to the Charlotte Hornets, one of the worst NBA teams.
After a month of absence due to a right foot injury, LeBron James, still considered uncertain on Sunday morning, finally played 30 minutes off the bench. He scored 18 points, took 3 rebounds and provided 2 assists.
This was not enough against the Bulls, carried by Zach LaVine (32 pts) and DeMar DeRozan (17 pts, 10 assists), who confirm their tenth place.
It was only the second time in his career that James came on as a substitute, having met on December 11, 2007.
The Lakers fall to the 9e place in the Western Conference, just ahead of the Oklahoma City Thunder, the last franchise to qualify for the play-offs.
Earlier in the day, despite the 40 points and twelve rebounds of its star Luka Doncic, Dallas chained a fourth loss in a row, including two against the Hornets. In their last eleven games, the Mavs have lost eight times.
The Texas franchise is still stumbling in eleventh place in a very tight Western Conference, where only two wins separate seventh from twelfth.
The Mavericks will have to play without Doncic on Monday against the Indiana Pacers, the Slovenian leader having committed a sixteenth technical foul this season, synonymous with a one-game suspension.