Darvin Ham accepted responsibility for the Los Angeles Lakers blowing a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter of the team's 116-115 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Monday night.

"That falls on me," Ham told reporters when discussing his team's lack of offensive organization. "That falls on me. I'll take responsibility for that."

Anthony Davis came to his coach's defense, saying the players needed to step up as the lead started slipping away.

"It's not just on him," Davis said. "It's on us too. I mean, we got enough years in the league for the guys that were on the floor late game to execute. Obviously, he's a coach, you take the blame. But it's on us players to go out there and execute."

The Lakers' offense became stagnant in the fourth quarter, often leaning heavily on Russell Westbrook with LeBron James hobbled by an ankle injury suffered in the opening period.

Westbrook led the squad with eight points in the fourth, but the rest of L.A.'s roster combined to make just five of their 16 shots (31.3 percent) in the final 12 minutes.

"We can't be in situations where we're throwing [Westbrook] the ball and everyone is standing and we're dribbling out the clock, dribbling out the clock," Ham said. "Now we're waiting on someone to go one-on-one versus the world. That's tough. That's a huge responsibility to have to score in those situations."

The loss dropped the Lakers to 7-12 and likely brought a halt to any momentum built up by winning five of their previous six games.

Every L.A. defeat leads to a renewed round of questions about how the team's front office is going to react to the sluggish start to the campaign.

General manager Rob Pelinka and Co. have so far resisted calls to make a significant roster-altering move, but each passing game further solidifies the fact the Lakers need another offensive threat capable of supporting James and Davis.

Los Angeles ranks last in three-pointers made per game (9.6) and 28th in three-point shooting percentage (32.0), numbers that make it tough to win in the modern NBA.

Being able to spread out defenses would not only provide more support for LeBron and AD, but it would also give more space for them to operate in half-court sets.

Yet there's been no sense the Lakers are aggressively working behind the scenes to get deals done. Instead, they may wait until closer to February's trade deadline before deciding how to move forward for the rest of the season.

For a team desperately seeking a spark, however, waiting a couple months doesn't seem like the best course of action if L.A. wants to turn things around in a significant way.

The Lakers are back in action Wednesday night when they host the Portland Trail Blazers.