The Los Angeles Lakers are still searching for a winning formula as they set to begin a four-game road trip Tuesday against the Cleveland Cavaliers at 7:00 pm ET.
Los Angeles (9-12) has dropped two straight and four of five, and is 4-7 since Mike D'Antoni took the reigns after Mike Brown was fired. Brown's termination was partially due to the Lakers' offensive struggles, which D'Antoni has seemingly helped. They're averaging 103.0 points with D'Antoni at the helm after putting up 97.8 per game under Brown.
The offense hasn't been the problem, though, as Los Angeles averaged 106.5 points in its last four losses. The Lakers allowed opponents to average 112.8 points and shoot 47.2 percent in those games.
"I just don't think we've had a gut-check moment yet," D'Antoni said. "At some point we're going to draw a line in the sand and that's it, you have to fight. It seems like things happen on the court that get us down. Are there possessions we just throw away? Yeah. We have too many guys who will take a possession off."
Meanwhile, the Cavaliers (4-17) hope Kyrie Irving's return will help them snap a five-game skid.
Without Irving and his team-leading 22.9 points per game, Cleveland lost nine times, the last four of which were also missed by second-leading scorer Dion Waiters (15.2 ppg).
Waiters is out because of a sprained left ankle and didn't practice Monday, but Irving's return should be a big boost for a team averaging 83.5 points over its last four.
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