No one would call this iteration of the Lakers the Road Warriors. They are 8-11 on the road and just lost both games in Texas, Sunday against the Rockets and Tuesday night against the Mavericks.

Their most recent loss to Dallas was their most frustrating in a long time. Despite missing their two biggest stars, Kyrie Irving and Luka Dončić, the Mavericks dominated the purple and gold, defeating the Lakers 118-97.

The Mavs had some great performances from their guards, with Quentin Grimes scoring 23 points off the bench and starters Spencer Dinwiddie and Klay Thompson combining for 32 points.

Lakers head coach JJ Redick was amazed by his team’s overall defensive performance and had no explanation for the failed coverage and inability to stop the Mavericks from scoring.

A majority of the points came when Austin Reaves defended the shooters. He struggled a lot in one-on-one situations and was honest about his poor performance after the loss.

“The first half was terrible,” Reaves said. “I thought the second half was better. I can’t allow that. I was really, really bad on both ends tonight.”

Allowing your opponent to score in groups and not have an offensive response is a damn good combination.

Simply put, Reaves is too important to the success of this team for him to have such a poor performance and still have the Lakers win, even against an undermanned Mavericks team.

Overall, Reaves has continued to develop on both sides of the ball this season, thanks in part to a poor away performance. After all, virtually everyone in Dallas had a bad game, so it’s not like Reaves was an outlier.

Still, the Lakers have shown this season that they struggle against teams with good perimeter players. They’ve lost to opponents like the Cavs, Pistons and now the Mavs, who dominate teams with quality guards and wings.

If the Lakers want to have postseason success this year, they will need to improve their perimeter defense. Reaves is a starting defender, so they need him to be better on both sides of the ball moving forward.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.