(Basketball news) The Los Angeles Lakers avenged their earlier loss to Chicago Bulls as they beat them 121-110. For the Lakers, James scored 25 points in his return to the starting lineup as he had seven rebounds and four assists in 31 minutes in his second game back after he was sidelined for a month because of a torn tendon in his right foot as Anthony Davis had 38 points and 10 rebounds in his hometown, and D’Angelo Russell scored 17 points. 

For the Bulls, Nikola Vucevic had 29 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in their second straight loss while DeMar DeRozan scored 22 points, and reserve Coby White had 17 points and nine assists. The Bulls (36-40) are 10th in the Eastern Conference, clinging to the last spot for the play-in tournament while Lakers improved their record to 38-38.

“I’m just trusting the work that I’ve been putting in,” James said. “I know I put in a lot of work. I know my body.”

“I always look forward to coming back home,” Davis said. “Kind of one of the first games I look at when the schedule drops. … It’s always a great feeling coming back, especially getting a win.”

“Obviously we didn’t close the (first) half very well. … And in the third quarter, LeBron made some tough shots and then our inability to score with them hurt us,” coach Billy Donovan said.

“Just wanted to try to put them in some uncomfortable positions with their defense,” Los Angeles coach Darvin Ham said, “and sort of spread the ball around a little bit, not overdose on any one or two actions, but just try to slowly sift through the offense and see what was bringing us the most returns.”

Kevin Durant finally made his home debut as the Phoenix Suns beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 107-100. For the Suns, Devin Booker scored 29 points as Chris Paul added 19 points and six assists while Durant had 16 points and eight rebounds in his home debut as they won their third straight game. Durant played for the first time since March 5 this was his first game since he got injured while warming up for his first home game with the Suns as he sprained his left ankle during pregame preparation, the injury cost him 10 games.

For the Timberwolves, Anthony Edwards led the scoring with 31 points as Karl-Anthony Towns added 25 points. The Timberwolves had a four-game winning streak snapped as now they are tied with the Lakers in 8th place in the Western Conference standings.

“It was hard for me to get sleep today, it was hard for me to stop thinking about the game,” Durant said. “Sometimes you can want it too bad and you come out, start rushing and being uncharacteristic.”

“I thought he battled on both ends,” Suns coach Monty Williams said. “I think his cardio has got to get back to the level he wants it. Once he gets that, we’ll see the Kevin that we all know.”

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