Byron Scott on Lakers' defense Wednesday: 'It was terrible'

The Los Angeles Lakers dropped a 109-102 decision to the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday, dropping their record to 1-7 on the season. The Lakers' biggest weakness appears to be on the defensive side of the ball, and head coach Byron Scott isn't sure if the problem can be fixed.

"To be honest with you, most of the time, the things that we want to do, they haven't done," Scott said after the loss, reports Baxter Holmes of ESPN. "And I don't know if it's because they're incapable of doing it or not."

After the loss to New Orleans, Los Angeles is now conceding a league-high 111.5 points per game, and allowed the Pelicans to score 60 points from inside the paint.

"They pretty much got anything they wanted in the paint with no resistance whatsoever," Scott said. "It was terrible. That was probably the worst defense we've played from the preseason all the way to this particular point."

Star guard Kobe Bryant also found his teams' inability to protect the paint frustrating.

"It was a layup drill," Bryant said. "Just layup after layup."

Scott doesn't plan to make any changes to Los Angeles's defensive system yet, but that could be on the way if things don't improve in a hurry.

"I want to at least see if they can do it," Scott said. "If they can't, then we'll change. And I've told our guys that. We want to see in the next three or four games if we can do that, and if we can't, then we'll change and go to something else."

The Lakers will be back in action Friday night when they play host to the defending champion San Antonio Spurs.