LOS ANGELES — Despite being on their first losing streak of the season, the Lakers entered Thursday feeling optimistic about themselves in light of having their preferred starting lineup available for the first time in over two weeks.

Those good feelings didn’t last long during the Lakers’ 119-96 Christmas Day loss to the Houston Rockets at Crypto.com Arena.

And not just because star guard Austin Reaves left the game early because of a calf injury that sidelined him last week.

But because the Lakers (19-10), again, showed little to no resistance defensively in their wire-to-wire loss.

And the Rockets (18-10), a team that thrives on the margins, took advantage, handing the Lakers their third consecutive loss and sixth defeat in their last 10 games.

“We don’t care enough right now,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “And that’s the part that bothers you a lot. We don’t care enough to do the things that are necessary. We don’t care enough to be a professional. It’s … we had it. We had it. We don’t have it right now.”

Redick added: “Guys will say they want to win. The care factor to me is, ‘Do I care enough to actually do what I’m supposed to do, and just do it consistently?’ And that’s really what the championship habits are and that’s what we don’t have right now.”

Luka Doncic led the Lakers with 25 points (9-of-17 shooting), seven assists and five rebounds. LeBron James finished with 18 points and five rebounds.

But both of the Lakers’ stars struggled with their ball security, with Doncic committing six turnovers and James having three of the team’s 16 giveaways.

Reaves’ absence only decreased the Lakers’ margin of error against an athletic Rockets team whose strengths are offensive rebounding and defensive prowess. And the matchup only further highlighted the areas the Lakers have struggled with over the last month.

“I don’t know what has to change, but definitely something needs to change,” Doncic said. “We [were] blown out the last three games. It definitely looks terrible. We got to figure out, that’s the thing we have [to do]. We just got to talk about it. Everybody got to talk about it. I know JJ said it’s going to be uncomfortable. As [it] should be.”

James, Marcus Smart (six points) and Rui Hachimura (scoreless on 0-of-6 shooting) declined to speak with reporters postgame.

Houston, led by Amen Thompson’s 26 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and Kevin Durant’s 25 points, eight assists and four rebounds, regularly created open shots.

And when the Rockets missed, they did what they do better than any other team and what they’re historically great at: successfully crash the offensive boards.

The Rockets grabbed 17 of their 42 missed shots – in line with their league-best 40.6% offensive rebounding rate they entered Thursday with – leading to them scoring 24 second-chance points.

“We know that what’s going on out there is just not really how we want to play, how we’re supposed to be playing,” Lakers forward Jake LaRavia said. “It’s the same thing I say every time we get in a press conference: It’s effort and it’s physicality. And if we’re not consistent with that, then this is what the game is going to look like. But we know the key of winning games and we’ve done it. It’s just the effort and the consistency isn’t there every night.”

And the Lakers didn’t make up for their deficits on the boards in any other area.

They had just one more defensive rebound (18) than the Rockets had on the offensive glass.

“Everybody got to challenge, first each other and then teammates,” Doncic said. “There’s no way we should be playing like this. Just gotta be better than that.”

Both teams finished with 16 turnovers, but the Rockets scored 23 points off the Lakers’ giveaways compared to the 11 points the Lakers scored off Houston’s turnovers.

“It’s been the same pretty much all year of how we lose games: transition defense, rebounding and stuff like that,” Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt said. “It’s been a trend all year. Obviously, when you’re winning, it shadows that. It’s just a little bit more highlighted now.”

The Lakers also took a season-low 11 free-throw attempts and made just seven – the first time they finished with fewer than 13 made free throws in a game.

All of the Lakers’ losses this season have been by double digits, and they’ve lost the last three games by a combined 62 points.

“It goes back to what I said the other night: It’s a matter of making the choice,” Redick said. “And too often, we have guys that don’t want to make that choice. And it’s pretty consistent who those guys are. And so, Saturday’s practice – I told the guys, it’s going to be uncomfortable. The meeting is going to be uncomfortable.”

Redick added: “I’m not doing another 53 games like this.”

Reaves, who had 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting in 15 first-half minutes, was ruled out just after halftime because of left calf soreness. He sat out three games last week because of a left calf ailment. Redick didn’t have a postgame update on Reaves, who’s scheduled to have an MRI on Friday.

Doncic, who sat out Tuesday’s road loss to the Phoenix Suns because of a lower left leg contusion and has dealt with calf ailments throughout his career, advised Reaves to take his time with the injury.

“I talked to him,” Doncic said. “He just said he don’t know. He’ll have an MRI. I know how it is [with] a calf injury. It’s not fun at all. Just be there to support him. Take your time. Calves are dangerous, so take your time.”

Vanderbilt provided a spark off the bench, finishing with 11 points and making three 3-pointers in addition to his defensive tenacity.

But the Lakers entered halftime down 63-53 and trailed by double digits the entire second half, including by as many as 24 points in the fourth.

“We basically got the answers to test: just play hard, be physical, get back in transition,” Vanderbilt said. “We know what we need to do. So at this point, you just gotta do it.”

Redick pulled his rotation players after Tari Eason scored a layup in transition to put the Rockets up 111-89 with just over three minutes remaining.

“There might be a disconnect right now,” LaRavia said. “But we’ll get on track. We’ll have this meeting, what JJ was talking about. And hopefully, the [discomfort] of it can try to move us in the right direction.”