LeBron James returned from injury after a 13-game absence but could not prevent the Los Angeles Lakers from falling to a 118-108 defeat by the Chicago Bulls.<\/span><\/p>\n James, 38, scored 19 points off the bench and afterwards revealed he was recovering from a torn tendon in his right foot.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Zach LaVine hit 32 points to lead the Bulls to a seventh win in nine games.<\/span><\/p>\n The Lakers have dropped to ninth in the Western Conference, with seven regular season games remaining.<\/span><\/p>\n Teams placed seventh to 10th in the Western and Eastern conferences will contest the play-in tournament, with two teams taking the final two spots in the play-offs.<\/span><\/p>\n James opted to play for the Lakers after testing his foot in the warm-up but said he is still managing the injury “day to day”. <\/span><\/p>\n He added he decided to make his return sooner than initially planned after watching his side win eight of the 13 games he missed to put themselves back in play-off contention.<\/span><\/p>\n “It definitely changed my mindset on me coming back and trying to be a part of this,” said James.<\/span><\/p>\n “It just enhanced what I was trying to do as far as my workouts, as far as my treatment and everything.”<\/span><\/p>\n Elsewhere, the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Houston Rockets 108-91 to secure a play-off spot for the first time since James’ final season with his hometown team when they lost in the 2018 NBA Finals.<\/span><\/p>\n
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