The Chicago Bulls defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 115-110 at United Center on Sunday, sweeping the opponents for the 2021-22 regular season.

Both sides saw star players sit in this contest. The Lakers lacked Anthony Davis while the Bulls missed Zach LaVine. The competitions remained very close as neither team could establish a safe lead, which meant aces of the franchise must stand out to carry their team.

That's what DeMar DeRozan did in the fourth quarter. He was 7-11 in field goals (FGs) and 5-5 in free throws to score 19, which were more than half of what the Bulls had (32) in Q4. In fact, he got 10 points and one assist in the last five minutes, leading his team to a 16-8 run before sealing the win.

"It's an honor to be trusted in those moments," DeRozan said. "I never take it for granted. It's an adrenaline rush that you can't duplicate, so you try to make the most of it every time you're put in that position. There's nothing like it. You've got to take the good with the bad, and I'm willing to take both."

"Just pretty amazing what he did being out, missing games and having two days," Bulls head coach Billy Donovan said. "His mental toughness and his competitive spirit are pretty amazing. Just his shot-making ability when we needed buckets."

Of course, Sunday's victory couldn't happen without excellent work by other Bulls. Lonzo Ball, Nikola Vucevic and Alex Caruso all got more than 15 points and drained and went 9-20 at the 3-point line. More importantly, eight of the team's 10-man rotation had at least one steal and the whole team outrebounded the opponents on the offensive glass 16-9.

The deficits in both offensive rebounds and free throws (31-22) told a lot about the Lakers' lack of energy and rim protection on the court.

The team's head coach Frank Vogel did appear in Sunday's game after entering the NBA's Health and Safety Protocols.  Assistant coach David Fizdale had to make the calls for the purple and gold. He decided to give DeAndre Jordan their only full-size center-left after Dwight Howard, and Davis missed the game, no more than 20 minutes on the floor against the Bulls.

Fizdale had his reasons to do so because although Jordan was 4-5 in FGs to get nine points and seven rebounds, he shared the team's worst plus/minus of -7 with Rajon Rondo. Not only was Jordan in the way of his perimeter teammates for penetration, but he was also a defensive sitting duck facing the Bulls' perimeter players in a mismatch.

That's why almost-37-year-old LeBron James became the starting center from Q3, standing next to 37-year-old Carmelo Anthony, who played as a power forward.

James' individual offensive efficiency was very impressive in the second half as he went 5-5 under the rim to get 21 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. His chasedown block against DeRozan at the end of Q4 gave his team the last ray of hope to reverse the situation.

However, meanwhile, the Lakers' interior defense was slipping as well. They allowed the Bulls more offensive rebounds (9-3) during the same period, including three in the last minute. The Bulls had a 6-0 run in that minute, coming back from 110-109 to the final 115-110.

The Lakers have been testing small-ball squads in which James plays center since they surrendered to the fact the team were no longer a strong defensive team. James is theoretically their second-best choice for a small-ball center after Davis.

Nonetheless, the Lakers lack other key factors to make small-ball games like this work. For example, going small is about increasing switch defensively and speed up offensively. The Lakers' perimeter defense is not reliable in regular matchups, not to mention in switches.

Allowing so many offensive rebounds by the Bulls was also proof that the team failed to launch enough early offense. In fact, the Lakers only had 11 fast break points, outperformed by the Bulls (15) again.

It's safe to say now that pushing James to center position has already backfired, but that's only the short term. If they stick to this decision, things could look darker for the purple and gold.

James is less than two weeks from reaching 37 years old. As the team's first orchestrator and scorer, now he has to shoulder the biggest rebounding and heaviest defensive duties. Having played over 39 minutes on Sunday night, he already surpassed Kevin Durant to average the second-most minutes (37.2) per game, following only Fred VanVleet of the Toronto Raptors.

37.2 minutes per game are also the longest for James since the 2016-17 season. The last time he played longer than 35 minutes on average, he missed 27 games in the 2018-19 season, the most in his career.

James already missed 12 of the team's 31 games this season. If that's not concerning enough, Davis, who also began to play more often as the starting center, averaged 35.3 minutes in 27 games before suffering left knee injury. He will be away for at least four weeks.

If the Lakers still want to bet against the risk of James suffering season- or career-threatening injury due to overloading, they better know what they are doing.

Other games on Sunday (away teams come first):

Miami Heat 90-100 Detroit Pistons

Portland Trail Blazers 105-100 Memphis Grizzlies

San Antonio Spurs 114-121 Sacramento Kings

Dallas Mavericks 105-111 Minnesota Timberwolves

Charlotte Hornets 106-137 Phoenix Suns