This Sick Dwight Howard Alley-Oop Didn’t Lead to a Lakers Win

The frustration continues to mount here in Los Angeles, as the Lakers lost again last night. Dwight Howard had a pretty nice highlight, catching this lob from Kobe Bryant, but Howard's old team, the Orlando Magic, walked out of Staples Center with a 113-103 win. The Lakers are now an underwhelming 8-9 on the young season.

Los Angeles was outscored 30-19 over the final six minutes of the game. Pau Gasol is struggling to find his role in the offense and found himself watching from the bench as the Magic closed out the win. Kobe said after the game that Gasol 'has to put his big boy pants on' which probably isn't going to help the big man's confidence going forward.

Howard continues to be abysmal from the free throw line, hitting just 9 of 21 in the loss. The loss to Orlando should be an embarrassment, especially considering that Orlando came into the game at 5-10 and averaging just over 91 points a game. The Lakers allowed the Magic to score 113 and shoot 50 percent from the field.

L.A. is still waiting for the return of Steve Nash, but at this point they need to figure out a way to get things going without him. Nash will definitely help to get the offense going, but their defense needs to improve dramatically. You can't give up 20 more points than a team is averaging and expect to win, nor should a team with Los Angeles' size get out rebounded at home.

The Lakers travel to Houston tomorrow night to face the Rockets.