LOS ANGELES – The losing of December carried into January. With a 123-114 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Sunday, the Lakers have lost 15 of their last 17 games. Along the way there have been ejections, flagrant fouls and injuries. Players have missed long stretches of games. Others have just missed defensive assignments. The slick offense of the season’s first month has appeared in glimpses, only to be replaced by a less beautiful, more stagnant variation.
Some of this is bound to make Luke Walton angry.
But the first-year Lakers coach has remained even-keeled throughout a stretch that has been more trying than most would have anticipated.