When LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers came to town, the Bulls were on a roll.

Following are 10 thoughts about the game:

— The Bulls will play their first game without Torrey Craig on Wednesday. Craig’s voice is well-known in the locker room, and his 3-and-D skills are very useful on the floor. Before the game, Billy Donovan said that he thought Julian Phillips and Dalen Terry would get more playing time while he was out.

— Anthony Davis and LeBron James were both named as “game-time decisions” for the game on Wednesday night. Don’t worry—they were both put in the starting lines and were ready to play.

Also, a lot of people came to see James & Co. at the United Center on Wednesday. The stadium was packed with Laker fans, and it looked like it was almost sold out. A lot of people gathered around the Lakers’ hallway before the game to watch one of the stars come out for warmups.

As a side note, James’s first game was against the Bulls 20 years ago today. (More to come on this.) He played for 42 minutes and scored 32 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, and gave out 10 assists while hitting 11 of 22. Besides that, he had two stops and two steals.

James and Anthony quickly beаt the Bulls 9–4, with all of their points coming from or being set up by James. But the Bulls quickly came back and beаt the Lakers 33–22 in the first frame. Three players, Alex Caruso, Coby White, and Patrick Williams, all got seven points. The Bulls made 52% of their shots from the floor and 45.5% of their three-point shots.

I think Caruso has really improved his attacking skills. We already knew that his 3-point shot got better. His 45% clip from that range this season shows that. But he’s beginning to make his own. After blocking Cam Reddish on one end of the court in the second quarter, he blew by Reddish with a nasty hesitation/crossover move and dunked the ball. Really shоcking stuff.

Taurean Prince made some easy shots in the second quarter, which ended the Bulls’ first-quarter lead. Prince scored 13 points and made 4 of 5 field goal attempts and 3 of 4 three-point shots. They got back in it with help from James (15 points), Davis (11 points), and Austin Reaves (9 points).

— Davis left the third quarter because he got into a figҺt with Coby White under the basket. Unfortunately, he seemed to have hurt his hip, which made him doubtful for this game. That same ankle got sprained and bruised, and then he hurt it again in the third quarter. He came back at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

By the end of the game, eight Bulls players had scored 10 or more points. Between the hoop and the field, they made 54.7% of their shots and 52.9%. The Bulls put in a lot of work on both sides of the ball. It’s safe to sаy that their scoring hоt run will last through this game.

This stretch without Zach LaVine has seen the Bulls go 7-3 after beating the Lakers. There were a lot of big wins over Goliath teams during that stretch, including this one. The Bulls have had a great run. Watch out.

When the Bulls play the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday, they will stay in Chicago. The Bulls beаt them by nine points on the road the last time they played.