Christmas Day was not so good for LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers as they were vanquished by the Los Angeles Clippers, 106-111, at the Staples Center on Wednesday.

The loss marks their second straight defeat at the hands of their bitter crosstown rivals this season, as well as their longest losing streak at four consecutive games.

Apart from the stinging defeat, it was double whammy for James as he admitted to have felt some discomfort throughout the match after getting inadvertently hit in the groin by Clippers pesky guard Patrick Beverley right around the first quarter.

Per Rachel Nichols of ESPN:

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James missed his first game of the season in LA's 104-128 letdown over the Denver Nuggets last Tuesday due to a thoracic muscle strain and a groin issue. Both him and fellow superstar Anthony Davis were deemed questionable prior to game against the Clippers, but they still soldiered through their respective injuries given the magnitude of the highly touted Christmas Day game.

LeBron dealt with the same nagging groin injury in his first season as a Laker. The early hit he took from Beverley may have affected his performance, as he struggled from the field in 38 minutes and went 9-of-24 from the field — including 10 of his 12 tries from downtown (16 percent). He still finished just a rebound shy of a triple-double with 23 points, 10 assists and nine boards.

Despite the recent slump, the Lakers (24-7) still lord over the West and hold a significant lead over the current number two seed Nuggets (21-8). The team, however, are now far behind the Milwaukee Bucks (27-5) for the best record in the league.