The Los Angeles Lakers fell completely apart against a short-handed Dallas Mavericks team on Tuesday and lost, 118-97, giving them their second straight defeat and their third in their last five games. Dallas dissected them using dribble penetration and quick passes, which led to it going 18-of-38 from 3-point range.

But the Lakers also did nothing to make up for it on the other end. They made just 11 of their 35 3-point attempts and shot a mediocre 45.3% overall, and LeBron James said afterward that it was a significant factor in why they didn’t do well defensively.

“When the ball is popping and the ball is going in, you’re able to play defense with a set defense,” said James. “If not, they get out and run it or turn the ball over, which we didn’t do too much of that. But offense can help defense as much as the defense can help the offense. It’s just another night for us where we’re not good offensively. We didn’t shoot the ball well, and we missed a lot of shots at the rim, and they countered that.”

Los Angeles also got outrebounded by 11 and gave up 11 offensive rebounds, which the Mavs turned into 15 second-chance points. It was a replay of the biggest issues that L.A. has had to deal with dating back to last season.

With a 20-16 record, James and crew now sit in sixth place in the Western Conference. The team will return home on Thursday for the first of five straight games at Crypto.com Arena.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: LeBron James on one reason the Lakers’ defense struggled versus Mavs