The Los Angeles Lakers went back to the losing column on Tuesday, falling to the New York Knicks in a game they never had the chance of winning.

While the scores ended up 106-100 in favor of the Knicks, the game wasn't really that close as the Lakers had to play catch-up after falling behind by 16 points (36-20) in the first quarter. The Purple and Gold trailed by as much as 25 points, which marks their sixth game this season where they had to face such margin.

Making that stat uglier, ESPN Stats & Info noted that the Lakers face the same amount of 25-point deficits in 72 games in 2020-21.

Even though they were without the suspended LeBron James, falling to such a huge deficit is unacceptable for the Lakers. After all, they still have two NBA superstars on the roster in Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook.

With LeBron ageing, some people believed the Lakers made the move to acquire Westbrook to ease the workload on Davis when James is out. However, despite some solid performances from the pair, it hasn't really resulted that much in wins.

Los Angeles falls to 9-10 on the season, trying hard to stay afloat in the Western Conference playoff picture. With the way the team is playing, they might find themselves competing in the play-in tournament once again.

The good news for LA is that they still have a lot of time to turn things around. They just have to do it as soon as possible, especially with other contenders starting to get it together.