LOS ANGELES — Things were looking rosy for the Lakers on Saturday. They were the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, had LeBron James and Rui Hachimura returning after missing some games and had a home contest against the 30-40 Chicago Bulls.

What was supposed to be a smooth win with their roster finally healthy turned into a disaster as the Bulls blew them out 146-115.

The defense was nonexistent, giving up the most points they have this season, and L.A. trailed by as many as 34 in this game. On any given night, any team could defeat another, but the lack of fight and poor execution by the Lakers was jarring.

“That was the worst our defenses has looked, frankly, maybe all year, but certainly in the last three months,” Redick said.

Not only was it consistently a poor defensive showing, but it got worse as the game progressed. The Bulls’ point total increased in every quarter, and in the third, with the game still within reach, the Lakers were horrendous with their perimeter defense, allowing Chicago to go 8-10 from deep.

In the fourth quarter, L.A. didn’t even attempt a fake comeback. Instead, they allowed a game-high 42 points. After another Coby White 3-pointer, part of a 36-point performance for the Chicago guard, fans exited the stadium with 6:46 left in the game.

The homestand that started with a bang, winning three straight games, now ended in a whimper, losing back-to-back matchups against the Bucks and the Bulls.

While this defeat shouldn’t ring panic alarms, the Lakers don’t have much time to figure things out and maximize their potential.

Currently, their big three of LeBron James, Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves have only played ten games together. They have 13 regular season games to go before they begin the quest to win 16 playoff games so they can hang banner No. 18 inside Crypto.com Arena.

That’s not a lot of games to develop chemistry and dominate the best of the best in the NBA.

Still, Redick understands they’ve been more good than bad over this recent stretch where they played six games in eight days and also had a four-game road trip where key starters were often missing.

“The thing that we have talked about all season long though, is grace,” Redick said. “So, the group inherently gets some grace for what these 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 got to 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 got to be now. It can’t be in a week or two weeks. It’s got to be now. It’s got to be Monday morning in our film session and our walkthrough for Orlando.”

The good news for the Lakers is they can still control their own destiny. They are only a half-game behind the Denver Nuggets in the standings and trail the Houston Rockets by two and a half games, but they play them twice before the season ends.

If they tighten up, they can climb the rankings and become the second seed in the Western Conference.

To do that, Los Angeles needs to return to its maniacal defense, which was flying around the perimeter, packing the paint and crashing the boards.

They’ve responded to bad losses with convincing wins before, and now, as they head on this road trip, they’ll have an opportunity to do it again.

This homestand may not have ended how the Lakers would’ve liked it to, and it certainly makes this 3-2 stretch in Los Angeles feel like a glass-half-empty scenario.

Although this chapter ended on a low note, the story is not over. There may not be many pages left in the 2024-25 book for the Los Angeles Lakers, but there is still enough to write a storybook ending.

The ball is in their hands, and with everyone finally back, they can complete this arc how they want, with all their stars ready to go. Los Angeles just needs to execute, and while Saturday didn’t give them a win, it did provide them with a lesson: if you play silly games, you’ll win silly prizes.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.