Maybe they're finally over it, a strange malady that sometimes seeps into the Lakers when they play bad teams.
It's been a weird occurrence since they were winning championships with Shaquille O'Neal but also posting clunkers on any given night in the regular season.
Last season, on the long road to the franchise's 15th championship, the Lakers lost to Indiana, Sacramento and Charlotte (twice), not to mention mediocre Miami and Philadelphia teams.
The year before that, they had humbling losses to Milwaukee, New Jersey, Sacramento (twice), Golden State (twice), Charlotte and Memphis.
Obviously, even the best teams have bad nights against bad teams, but Brian Shaw has experienced the phenomenon as a Lakers assistant coach the last five seasons and as a guard on three Lakers championship teams earlier this decade.
"Sometimes it's just a natural thing," he said Monday. "You don't necessarily let your guard down, but you're like, 'OK, let's just hurry up and get it over with,' and you just lose focus.
"The opposite of that was [last month] when we played Phoenix, who was undefeated when we played them, so everybody was real focused and amped up for that."
If the last two weeks are any indication, the Lakers (13-3) don't like to lose, particularly to teams with second-rate records. Their last six opponents had a combined record of 29-68 -- and the Lakers have won easily, their average margin of victory a breezy 17.7 points.
Shaw, however, doesn't consider it a new trend . . . yet.
"The games that we've been winning by 18 a game, we could be winning by 30," he said. "The second unit has still not meshed. They haven't shown that they can hold on to a lead or that Phil [Jackson] can completely trust them if it's a tight game."
To make sure the Lakers don't gag against poor teams, Shaw also puts pressure on other people -- namely himself and the rest of the coaching staff.
Jackson agrees with him. "That's really my job and our coaches and our captains' job," he said. "It's to keep the team motivated and keep driving them forward and not just be complacent."
The Lakers get another losing team tonight, New Orleans (7-10), without All-Star guard Chris Paul, who has missed seven games because of a sprained left ankle.
Forward Ron Artest has a unique way of staying motivated against weaker teams. "We're sort of the underdogs," he said.
