Luka Doncic's 46 Points Sink Bulls Against Lakers, 129-118

At 33.4 points per game, Luka Doncic is the NBA's leading scorer for a reason. The All-NBA point guard and perennial MVP candidate is borderline unstoppable when he's firing on all cylinders, and he was exactly that on Monday night.

The Bulls had no answer for Doncic, who posted a stellar 46 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds at the United Center. Behind his 8-of-14 three-point shooting, LeBron James' 24 points and Rui Hachimura's 23, the Lakers torched Chicago's defense, 129-118.

Los Angeles scored 35, 34 and 35 points in the first three quarters, respectively. The Lakers shot 56.1% from the floor and 48.5% behind the arc to move to 28-17 on the season.

Coby White continued his hot shooting streak with five three-pointers on 10 attempts to lead the Bulls in the loss. He finished with 23 points, six assists and five rebounds, while Ayo Dosunmu (20 points), Josh Giddey (19) and Nikola Vucevic (18) rounded out a balanced scoring attack.

The loss drops the Bulls back to 23-23 and keeps them at the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Conference. Chicago's four-game winning streak, snapped on Monday, had put it above .500 for the first time since Thanksgiving.

James and Doncic gashed the Bulls' defense from the jump. The 41-year-old forward used his power and physicality to drive into the lane, while Doncic facilitated Los Angeles' offense with cross-court passes and smooth floaters.

Jalen Smith served as Chicago's mismatch, extending his double-digit scoring streak to eight games with 10 points in the first quarter. Stix knocked down all four of his attempts to give his team a 31-26 lead.

However, the Lakers closed the quarter hot with nine consecutive points, and that momentum carried into the next period. James scored his team's first 10 points of the second quarter as Los Angeles dominated in the paint. The Bulls turned the ball over 10 times and trailed by as many as 20 points before cutting the deficit to 13 at the break.

The star duo of James and Doncic combined for 37 first-half points en route to a 69-56 Lakers lead. As a team, L.A. shot 62.2% from the floor and outscored Chicago in the paint, 38-22.

From the final 70 seconds of the second quarter to the first 2:38 of the third, the Bulls went on an 18-5 run to make it a single-digit game, forcing Los Angeles to use a timeout. White and Doncic traded three triples apiece and Nikola Vucevic knocked down a pair of free throws, pulling Chicago within a point.

But thanks to more Doncic dimes that led to Laker three-pointers, the Bulls couldn't grab the lead. Los Angeles ended the third quarter on a 23-9 run as Doncic chipped in 20 points in the period alone.

Missed free throws plagued Chicago and quelled any hopes of a comeback. The Bulls cut the Lakers' lead to as few as seven mid-way through the fourth, but four misses from the line allowed L.A. to pull away.

Doncic put the nail in the coffin with a pair of left-wing threes in the final minutes.

The Bulls head to Indiana on Wednesday before facing the Miami Heat three times in four days.