But for all the questions about the Lakers' offensive personnel and approach, their defense has been the much bigger issue. They got carved up by the Clippers in Sunday's defeat a

The Los Angeles Lakers are trying to play some better basketball. They have lost three of their last five games, but have won two straight. There has been a lot going on off the court that has made things hard to focus on basketball.

LeBron James and JJ Redick understand the Lakers have very little room for error if they're going to break out of "stuck" mode moving forward.