The Los Angeles Lakers were out for revenge when they took on the Chicago Bulls at the United Center on Thursday. The Lakers were blown out 146-115 when the teams met on March 22, and it looked like it was the Bulls’ turn to get squashed here, as they trailed by as many as 18 points at one stage in the fourth quarter.
It looked like Lakers head coach JJ Redick was about to lead his team to a second-straight win, but what followed was an epic Bulls’ comeback. The hosts would trim that deficit as the quarter went on and then scored nine points in the final 11 seconds to escape with a 119-117 win.
It was a crazy sequence at the end, with Josh Giddey drilling the game-winning buzzer-beater from halfcourt. As far as heartbreaking losses go, this would probably be at the top of the list, and Redick admitted postgame that he was devastated.
“Devastation,” Redick said, via Spectrum Sportsnet. “It’s a hell of a way to lose a ball game.”
You can’t think of too many worse ways to lose a game. It can be hard for a team to bounce back from that, and Redick was asked how he’d ensure that his team moves on from it quickly.
“We’re not in a position to feel sorry for ourselves,” Redick stated.
JJ: “We’re not in a position to feel sorry for ourselves.”
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🔗: https://t.co/k8Sa1tLkWs pic.twitter.com/Ssxf6JzQzV— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) March 28, 2025
The players absolutely need to put this behind them in a hurry and focus on the next game against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedEx Forum on Saturday. The Lakers are currently in the midst of somewhat of a mini crisis, having lost eight of their last 12 games.
They have now dropped to 44-29 this season and are in real danger of falling into the Play-In spots. The Lakers looked set to finish as the second seed in the West at one point, but they’ll be lucky to finish in the top four as things stand.
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Redick has earned a lot of praise for the job he’s done in his first season as a head coach, and he needs to make sure everything doesn’t fall apart right at the end. He has managed to steady the ship whenever things went wrong earlier in the season and needs to do that again.
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