The slumping Los Angeles Lakers will try to avoid their longest road losing streak in eight seasons Monday night when they head to the windy city to take on the Chicago Bulls at 9:30 pm ET.
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Los Angeles (17-23) has lost eight of 10 overall after kicking off a three-game trek Sunday with a 108-103 defeat to Toronto. The Lakers, who fell behind by as many as 19 points in the fourth quarter, are on the verge of their first six-game losing streak in opponents' arenas since a nine-game skid in 2004-05.
Pau Gasol had a season-high 25 points in his return to the starting lineup and Earl Clark scored 14 to go along with a career-best 14 rebounds, but Los Angeles allowed the Raptors to shoot 54.8 percent. The Lakers played the entire second half without Dwight Howard after he received his second technical foul -- and the accompanying ejection -- late in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, Chicago (23-16), playing without Luol Deng due to a right hamstring injury, had won seven of its previous nine games but was outscored 21-6 in transition while shooting 36.5 percent.
Second-year swingman Jimmy Butler scored 12 of his career-high 18 points over the final 12 minutes of regulation. Butler figures to receive a second consecutive start if Deng, averaging a team-high 17.4 points, can't go Monday.
Butler could be asked to help contain Kobe Bryant, who is coming off two particularly inefficient games. He has shot 18 of 57 (31.6 percent) from the floor in losses to Miami and Toronto, committing six turnovers in each contest.
The Lakers had taken seven straight from the Bulls before losing the last two matchups by a combined five points. Injured superstar Derrick Rose, though, totaled 51 points in those narrow wins while Deng added 35.
