No LeBron James, No Anthony Davis, No Win for the Lakers vs. Toronto Raptors

The Lakers were missing LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Patrick Beverley and Wenyen Gabriel Wednesday in Toronto. Juan Toscano-Anderson, who started the game after barely hitting the court for most of the season, turned an ankle. So it's no surprise the Lakers found themselves down by 20 (give or take) relatively quickly, and for most of the game before ultimately losing by 13, 126-113. They didn't do anything wrong, really, and there were again some highlights (16 points for Thomas Bryant on only five FGAs, for example), but in the end, what happened was exactly what most people would have expected.

So the Lakers are again four games under .500, looking at a gimpy LeBron, an under-the-weather A.D., an already-out Gabriel... is there a risk of losing the momentum they built up after winning eight of ten? Is there extra pressure to push through, trying to capitalize on the positive momentum they created, and got everyone so excited?

How do the Lakers balance the long haul vs. the shorter term? Has the recent run of good play given them a little breathing room, or created a greater sense of urgency to push hard?

What is the right benchmark for them to use , when considering their position relative to the rest of the conference?

And how does all of this play into next week's big calendar milestone? December 15th is coming fast, when the NBA's trade market opens up and the number of players who can be traded (including guys like Beverley) increases considerably.

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: The Lakers are shorthanded, and predictably lost in Toronto Wednesday.

SEGMENT 2: Has the exuberance around the recent run made long term thinking harder?

SEGMENT 3: What is the right way of thinking about where the Lakers stand relative to the rest of the conference, as they make considerations around health and who plays?

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