There was a lot of excitement surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night as with LeBron James and Rui Hachimura returning, the team was back at full strength for the first time in a while.
Rust clearly was a factor for JJ Redick’s team though as the Bulls outplayed them from the jump and cruised to a 146-115 victory. Giving up 146 points in a non-overtime game is something the Lakers have only done once in their history as their defense was simply nonexistent.
The Lakers also committed 21 turnovers leading to 27 points, and those are the two areas Redick pointed to for why they lost. While Redick was unhappy with L.A.’s play, he was willing to give them some grace since it was their seventh game in 10 days and guys are just getting back from injury.
“Well, our defense. I mean, we gave up 44 points in the paint. Our turnovers killed us all night, which led to them getting shots in transition,” Redick said. “I thought we did a poor job contesting. I mean, again, they were five-for-22 at the half from three and I think they were 14-for-19 in the second half. [Matas] Buzelis hit a bunch of those. You’re willing to live with a couple, then we turned off some of the shift notices and then the contests weren’t great. You can certainly get into the technicality of it, and you can certainly get into the turnovers for us offensively and how that kind of destroyed our rhythm. But, the disposition and the mentality, I don’t know if we assumed because we had everybody back that it was just gonna be like it was three weeks ago.
“That’s just not the way it works. I think the guys know that. I’m not saying that’s what they assumed, and you’ll have to ask them that. The thing that we have talked about all season long though is grace. So, the group inherently gets some grace for what this last three weeks has looked like. It’s not an excuse, it’s just the nature of where a group felt very connected, then you lose some games on the road, you have some injuries and all that stuff. You gotta get reconnected. That’s where our group [is]. We’ll get there. We, however, don’t have a lot of time to do that. It’s gotta be now. It can’t be in a week or two weeks. It’s gotta be now. It’s gotta be Monday morning in our film session and our walkthrough for Orlando.”
Redick did not sugarcoat the loss, however, believing it’s the worst defense the Lakers have played all season.
“Again, I love my team. I love those guys. That was the worst our defense has looked, frankly. Maybe all year, but certainly in the last three months,” he added.
The Lakers only have 12 regular season games remaining, which means the clock is ticking for them to build continuity ahead of the playoffs. They were rolling before the injuries set in though, so the hope is they’ll be able to regain that form sooner rather than later, and Redick believes it starts on the defensive end.
“Yeah, I think that’s the word that we’ve used a lot–edge. You gotta play with an edge,” Redick said. “I told them this just now and I don’t think this is a secret, so I’m comfortable sharing this, but our success this season since January has been based on our defensive disposition, our ability to defend as a team and our individual pride on the ball. [It’s] our individual pride in doing your job with whatever it may require, a low-man, a box-out [or] a gained rebound, whatever it may require. That’s gonna determine our success for the next three weeks and that’s gonna determine our success if we are able to secure a postseason berth.”
JJ Redick acknowledges Lakers would like best playoff seed possible
This loss could be a costly one for the Lakers as they fight for seeding in a loaded Western Conference. Considering how well the Lakers have played at home, JJ Redick recently stated that the hope is they will be able to get the best seed possible in order to have home-court advantage in the playoffs.
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