The Lakers lost to the Golden State Warriors last night, and ultimately surrendered the NBA Western Conference's top seed to the San Antonio Spurs.

That's right, here we are on April 7th and the defending champions lost to a 35-44 team. Now one might be inclined to say: "But Keith, Golden State is one of those up and coming teams- young and still proving themselves". You'd be right to say that, however the Lakers are one of those teams that are supposed to take those up and coming teams, spank them on their bottoms, and send them back to their mommas with a smirk and a "Not yet, young pup".

The loss isn't as bad as the complete lack of defensive intensity. ESPN.com called them sluggish in their recap. Sluggish? I haven't seen that much laziness since the last run at the local Y.

If you want to know the mental state of the Lakers, watch a game like last night or when they lost to Utah the other night and watch Lamar Odom's body language. Kobe always has the same intense look on his face. Pau Gasol doesn't really change either. Derek Fisher is downright stoic, but Odom will give you glimpses into what's going on the bench and in everyone's head. Based on his body language going up and down the court and walking off it, I get the feeling there's a lot of head shaking going on and maybe people are starting to question whether this team has what it takes to pull of a three-peat.

I've said before that nothing is more meaningless than regular season wins or losses in the NBA because teams ratchet up everything in the playoffs. Based on last night's effort, there's a whole lot of intensity to be added. In a hurry.

If the playoffs started today, the Lakers would draw the Portland Trailblazers- a team that always gives them a run for their money. If Lakerland sweated last season's first round matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder, then get your showers ready because that first round series will probably be enough to wear out a shirt or two.

After the All-Star break, it seemed as though the Lakers truly had flipped a switch and were in playoff mode. After the last two losses, I'm thinking someone needs to go in the basement and kick the furnace because everything's gone cold.

And time's running out.