Unfocused Lakers Lose to Mavericks 118-97, Despite No Luka or Kyrie

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers

There have been a few good candidates for "Worst" among the (now) 16 losses suffered by the Lakers over the course of this season.

But Tuesday, the Lakers may have set a new bar. They went into Dallas facing a Mavs team without Luka Doncic or Kyrie Irving, and playing on the second night of a back-to-back in which they had to travel back to from Memphis to Dallas after losing to the Grizzlies Monday night. Starting center Derek Lively was in foul trouble for much of the game, which is problematic for Dallas since their backup, Daniel Gafford, is on the shelf as well.

LA, meanwhile, had a day of rest to think about a disappointing loss in Houston Sunday evening, and even got some reinforcements in the form of Gabe Vincent, who returned to the lineup after missing games with an oblique injury. And by beating Dallas, the Lakers could put a little space between themselves and a key competitor in the Western Conference.

And yet, the Lakers lost, 118-97.

When people question how good the Lakers are, and whether or not Rob Pelinka ought to be investing what's left of the team's prime assets in this season, it's games like this that give them pause. Good teams do not lose this game. They may not play great, they might hit some rocky points, but in the end, they win the game. (Really good teams knock Dallas out early, and never let them get confident, but let's walk before we run.) So if you're Pelinka, how do you react to nights like this? Can you believe that the Lakers are capable of enough consistency to push through the late stretch of the season, then into multiple rounds of playoff basketball, with enough high-end consistency to make an "all in" move seem like a reasonable gamble?

There is an excellent chance that at the end of the year, the Lakers will see the standings and point to this game as a reason something more favorable didn't happen. It's possible, too, that it could be a reason the team doesn't go big at the deadline.

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: Horrible, horrible loss.

SEGMENT 2: Nobody stepped up to get the job done, and the defense was really bad.

SEGMENT 3: It starts with the stars - 39 points from LeBron and AD? That's not enough.

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