With their unexpected 110-105 defeat against the rebuilding Memphis Grizzlies on Monday, the Los Angeles Lakers have lost four of their last five games.

It is undeniable that the team have been struggling. As pointed out by NBA stats guru John Schuhmann, L.A.'s poor play for most of the season may be attributed to its inability to take full advantage of the catch-and-shoot three:

This is bad, considering the fact that the Lakers are better at making unassisted threes than draining the catch-and-shoot trey, but what makes this even worse is that throughout his career, LeBron James has thrived when surrounded by 3-point shooters.

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Based on this statistic above, it seems that the current Laker roster is not able to fully utilize the skill set of its main man. The team's struggles to remain competitive in the Western Conference appear to further strengthen this premise.

The Lakers did add sharpshooting wing Reggie Bullock prior to the trade deadline. This move was obviously geared toward addressing the dire need for a 3-point specialist. The former Detroit Piston has been effective since his arrival, but simply put, he has not been enough.

Time is running out for the Lakers this season, and with frustration continuing to build, the sobering prospect of missing the playoffs becomes more and more realistic.