ORLANDO, Fla. -- Forget all the storied history. Reality is starting to set in with the Los Angeles Lakers about just how far the mighty have fallen.
"We are who we are right now," Pau Gasol said after the Lakers' 114-105 loss to the Orlando Magic on Friday. "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 (16-28) have the second-worst record in the Western Conference, ahead of only the Utah Jazz (14-29). Their current slide includes three straight losses and defeats in 15 of their last 18 games.
The Lakers have lost to the likes of Utah, Philadelphia (14-29), Milwaukee (8-34) and the Magic, who had lost 12 of their previous 13 games entering Friday.
Aside from missing five guards because of coinciding injuries to Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Steve Blake, Jordan Farmar and Xavier Henry, L.A.'s biggest problem has been its defense. The Lakers have allowed their opponents to score 100 points or more in each of their last 11 games.
They also allowed 38 points to the Magic in the third quarter alone.
"It just seems we can't seem lock up consistently," Gasol said. "We do it for spurts. Now every team in the league knows the Lakers are not very good defensively, to say the least."
The Magic loss came on the sixth game of a seven-game road trip for the Lakers, and was the tail end of a back-to-back that started with Thursday's game against the Miami Heat.
"We had a lot of let-ups," Nick Young said. "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."
The frustration has started to get to Young, as he was whistled for a technical foul -- his fourth in the last five games -- for spiking the ball after not receiving a call following a missed layup in the second half.
"It's tough losing to teams where we feel we're better than," Young said. "It hurts. I came here [after the game] saying I'm about to retire today because that's how bad it hurts. It just hurts losing like this, and it's frustrating."
The Lakers are now 2-4 on their seven-game "Grammy" road trip, with a chance to finish on a high note against the New York Knicks on Sunday.
"It's hard because we've been fighting this whole road trip," Young said. "I can say honestly this is probably one of the games we let up a little bit. We fought against Chicago. We fought against Miami. And today we just lost that focus, it seems like. You could say that we were a little tired, but ain't no way we were supposed to lose tonight."