You can point to a handful of reasons why the Los Angeles Lakers are on the verge of panic. Dwight Howard missed all of training camp and most of preseason recovering from back surgery. Kobe Bryant has a sprained foot that requires him to wear a walking boot. Steve Nash is out for a while with a fracture in his fibula. That lack of continuity led to 11 straight losses – all eight in the preseason, which the Lakers dismissed as games that don’t count,