Editor's note: As part of "The Stein Line" every Monday, senior NBA writer Marc Stein takes you around the league for the latest news in "Coast to Coast."

They trailed the Trail Blazers by 15 points in the fourth quarter of that famous Game 7. They faced and staved off elimination twice against the Kings in last spring's conference finals. So the Lakers have seen grave before, and they say 6-12 doesn't qualify. Gen. Phil Jackson doesn't panic, as Shaquille O'Neal keeps reminding us, so the soldiers who play for Jackson won't.

	The Lakers are only 3-3 since Shaquille O'Neal returned.

Only if they're playing this way two months into the season, the Lakers say, will they betray any concern over a start that sank to six games under .500 with Sunday night's home loss to a short-handed team like themselves (Minnesota). They're refusing to acknowledge any noise from the Month 1 doubters.

Nevertheless ...

It's clear, after unquestionably their worst week of the season so far, that Shaq's big toe isn't the only issue with these guys. Sacramento continues to win with a longer injury list than L.A. has, Dallas has seemingly promoted itself to the Lakers/Kings stratosphere and the thrice-defending champs have no more help coming unless owner Jerry Buss softens his no-more-spending stance.

The Lakers' payroll already sits at $63-plus million, which is higher than Buss ever wanted to go, some $10 million over the estimated luxury-tax threshold. That means O'Neal, rusty and heavy, and Kobe Bryant will have to do more heavy lifting than normal, because Robert Horry (left foot) and Samaki Walker (back) are hobbling and Devean George is just getting back from an ankle problem that sidelined him for three weeks. Rick Fox missing the season's first six games on suspension didn't help, either. And if you're looking for impact newcomers, there aren't any. Not one.

Still, it's hard to fathom how the Lakers could ever lose seven straight games on the road, with or without O'Neal. It's harder still to understand why, on several occasions, they have struggled with the old lack-of-urgency issues after so many Lakers showed up for training camp in top shape vowing to be more serious than ever about the regular season after the scare they got from the Kings.

Four is enough
The good news for L.A.? Jackson says now that he'll settle for the No. 4 seed in the West by April, just to secure home-court advantage in the playoffs' first round, and No. 4 should be available.

The East suddenly looms as the deeper conference because everyone in the West not named Dallas or Sacramento is searching for consistency. San Antonio (11-7), Minnesota (10-8), Portland (7-8) and the Clippers (6-12) have all started worse than forecasters expected. Houston (9-7), Seattle (10-8), Utah (9-8) and Phoenix (8-7) have been equally unpredictable.

The Lakers cling to the hope that rust and conditioning will be O'Neal's only obstacles -- that surgery will allow his toe to withstand the rest of the season without interruption. There's also the knowledge, most of all, that they won the West last season from 3-2 down against the Kings and without the home-court edge and with O'Neal and Bryant both ailing in that series.

So they can justify Phil's refusal to panic. For now.

	Gentry's Clips record: 76-106.

Is it Gentry's turn on the hot seat?
The outlook is gloomier in Clipperdom, where the best players continue to be lined up for other teams' future free-agent raids ... while Alvin Gentry fights the growing perception that he has replaced Memphis' deposed Sidney Lowe as the coach most likely to go.

Clippers management insists such suggestions are "completely external," but recent history surprisingly doesn't provide Gentry much insulation. You'd think owner Donald T. Sterling would never fire a coach during the season, to avoid paying two at the same time, but it happened as recently as 1999-2000, when Jim Todd coached the final 37 games after Chris Ford's dismissal.

Cavs hopeful on Davis, high on Wagner
The Cavaliers are optimistic that they won't have long-term trouble with the suspended Ricky Davis, even though Davis -- who has clashed with teammates repeatedly -- seems to have forgotten his training-camp vow. "We've got a good thing going," Davis told us in October, "and I don't want to mess that up."

	Dajuan's a reason to go to the Gund.

Cackle if you want, but the Cavs will have the makings of something interesting if Davis matures ... and if Darius Miles' knee trouble is indeed "not anything serious" as he insists ... and if Zydrunas Ilgauskas' feet will allow him to simply play at his current level but with a shooting percentage higher than .363.

Then there's Dajuan Wagner, who has everyone gushing after finally playing a few games.

"He's just a unique player," Cavaliers general manager Jim Paxson said. "He's got a great mid-range game. He's very strong. He's a good passer (inside) once he gets by his guy. He's not Allen Iverson. He's not Stephon Marbury. He's his own kind of player."

Three of a kind?
Who would have bet that, one month in, Eric Musselman would have as many wins and fewer losses in Golden State than the Lakers' Jackson? Or that Jeff Bzdelik's Denver Nuggets would be a half-game behind Jackson's team?

	Musselman

	Bzdelik

Not Musselman. Not Bzdelik. The rookie coaches are openly grateful for the early wins, but not because they suddenly expect to avoid long winters. A little early success simply makes it easier to keep their young players on course through the inevitably long dry spells to follow. Which is why Cleveland is begging for a win against anyone, after 14 straight defeats.

"The hardest job I have is getting the guys to play hard every night through the losses," Musselman said before the Warriors' recent booster shot (back-to-back wins over Denver and Phoenix) made that job a little easier. "And it's important not to get too down on your team."

Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here.