The struggling Los Angeles Lakers (9-13) will head in to Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Knicks (16-5) on Thursday night.  The Lakers are on the verge of its longest losing streak since the 2010-11 season and will undoubtedly have their work cut out against them against the Eastern Conference's best team.

Los Angeles will look to end their early season woes as new coach Mike D' Antoni steps into the respective arena for the first time since resigning from the Knicks in March.

When the Lakers hired D' Antoni on Nov. 11, they anticipated that the team would begin to reach its initial expectations.  However, the situation hasn't turned out as planned thus far as the team now sits four games below the .500 mark. 

To top it off, Los Angeles even was defeated on Tuesday night  by the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers by a score of 100-94.

"We play at a very slow pace and we struggle.  Maybe it shifts over to defense.  Maybe we're slow.  Maybe we can't do it.  It's my job to fix it - and that's what I'll do," D' Antoni told ESPN.

The Lakers haven't been defeated in four straight games since their five-game losing streak from April 3 -10, 2011.

"We've got to stay focused and stay strong.  We can't let this break who we are as a team.  We're not playing the greatest basketball.  But there will come a day when we'll have the gun.  Right now, we're rabbits," stated Dwight Howard.

"Once we get the gun, it's not going to be fun for everybody else," he continued.

CLICK HERE to watch the Los Angeles Lakers face off against the New York Knicks via free live stream. Coverage of the NBA game is set to begin at 5 p.m. PST on Thursday, Dec. 13.

Tags: NBA los angeles lakers New York Knicks