The wheels came off the Los Angeles Lakers season on Friday against the Charlotte Hornets. LeBron James lost his shoe on the final possession, resulting in a Dennis Schroder missed three-pointer and arguably the team's most deflating loss of the 2022-23 season: a 134-130 defeat at Crypto.com Arena (the Lakers blew a 4-on-1 fast break on the preceding play).

It was the Lakers' third consecutive loss — though the previous two came against playoff-caliber squads. The Lakers (13-19) couldn't use the absence of Anthony Davis as an excuse against the tanking Hornets (9-24). They simply should have won this game, and they know it.

The Lakers were never focused — they played as if they were thinking about the Christmas presents they forgot to buy. A 21-5 third-quarter Hornets run led to a 16-point lead, and the Lakers' comeback literally came untied. All in all, it was an inexcusable, unserious performance from a team that ostensibly cares about making a playoff push.

Darvin Ham — usually optimistic and positive — excoriated his team postgame, specifically for surrendering 62 points in the paint and 17 turnovers, leading to 32 Hornets points.

“This one pisses me off a little bit,” Ham said. “We constantly talk about … self-inflicted wounds — not protecting the paint, not holding teams to one possession … not being disciplined with our running habits, turning the ball over. We have to do a much, much better job, again, of maintaining competitiveness, closing out teams, holding them to one possession, possession by possession, just holding them to one shot.”

Even without AD, Ham acknowledged that his team has more than enough resources to win this ballgame, especially when LeBron puts up 34 points on 15-of-23 shooting. The question is: Do they have the wherewithal?

“We can’t assume that just because one (guy) is out – we have first-ballot Hall of Famers on this team – that we can just play around with this game and waste possessions and (think) someone is going to put their cape on and save the day.”

(FWIW, Ham is not above blame. He continues to forego timeouts as opposing teams make runs, and his continued reliance on the Schroder-Patrick Beverley backcourt is confounding. The Lakers, meanwhile, are by far the worst clutch team in basketball, per NBA.com.)

Once again, Los Angeles had to climb uphill after halftime — a troubling trend. (After AD's missed free throws led to an overtime loss vs. the Boston Celtics, Ham said his message to the team was about starting faster, not what transpired in the final seconds of regulation). On Friday, Ham reiterated the need to execute for four quarters.

“We have to get out in front of things,” he said. “We have to be the ones to set the tone, not match someone else’s energy. We have to understand that possession by possession by possession, the intensity level has to raise, the competitiveness has to raise, togetherness has to raise. Throughout a 48-minute game, you have to get stronger as the game gets longer.”

LeBron kept his remarks brief — the Lakers rushed out to embark on a five-game trip, which starts on Christmas vs. the Dallas Mavericks and Luka Doncic (whom they have no matchup for). As a loyal Nike man, he was never going to bring up the unfortunate shoe malfunction. However, his frustration was palpable, and he subtly acknowledged the shortcomings of the roster (not for the first time), particularly sans AD.

“It wasn't just down the stretch, it was the whole game,” LeBron said about the Lakers' struggles, before citing the turnovers and Charlotte's 29 fast-break points. “Not matching up in transition, not putting bodies on bodies for rebounds … those are self-inflicted wounds. We just don't have a lot of room for error.”

(To make matters worse, AD's replacement, Thomas Bryant, injured his shoulder in the second half. Ham had no postgame update.)

After the Mavs test, the Lakers will visit the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat (back-to-back), followed by the Atlanta Hawks and Hornets before returning home in the New Year. By then, there should be more news on the status of Davis' stress injury, as the star center is set to be reevaluated in a little over a week.

“When things are going bad, we have to figure out a way to stop the bleeding,” said Austin Reaves.

But, to quote the cinema classic Predator, the Lakers ain't got time to bleed. Tighten the screws ASAP or they'll find themselves in too deep of a hole for AD to pull them out of — if and when he does return.