The Los Angeles Lakers continue to slid down the standings after losing to the Orlando Magic, 114-105, on Friday night and veteran big man Pau Gasol could not hide his displeasure on the team's continued skid.
"We are who we are right now," he told ESPN.com after their latest defeat. "Some nights are better than others but, bottom line, when you lose against the worst teams in the league, you got to ask yourself why and, kind of, what does that make you?"
The Lakers now have the second-worst record in the Western Conference with a 16-28 slate, just half a game ahead of the Utah Jazz. They have lost 15 of their last 18 outings, losing to other bottom-feeding teams like Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Orlando and Utah.
Although the team has been hit tremendously by injuries, including franchise star Kobe Bryant and point guards Steve Nash, Steve Blake and Jordan Farmar, the Lakers' woes stem mainly from their lack of defense. In the last 11 games, their opponents have score 100 points or more against them. Against the Magic, they allowed their counterparts to score 38 points in the third quarter.
That fact is not lost on Gasol, who said: "It just seems we can't seem lock up consistently. "We do it for spurts. Now every team in the league knows the Lakers are not very good defensively, to say the least."
The Lakers are on their annual Grammys road trip where they have played their last six games away from home. The team is 2-4 on this road trip and so the lack of energy is expected. Still, it does not sit well with many of the players.
Says guard Nick Young: "We don't bring the energy all the time. You could say we look at their records. We look at the team we're playing and underestimate them. We got to play everybody like we're playing against the Heat, like we're playing against the top teams. You can't just look at teams' records and come in and think it's going to be a cakewalk."
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