Five takeaways from the Lakers’ 117-113 loss to the Charlotte Hornets

As the Lakers near the end of their longest road trip of the season, all that’s left in this swing is a Florida back-to-back with the Miami Heat on Thursday and the Orlando Magic on Friday.

Here are five takeaways from Tuesday night’s 117-113 loss to the Charlotte Hornets, in which the Lakers gave up a 19-point lead.

1. Defense continues to be an issue for the Lakers, and probablly will be in the foreseeable future. The reason the Lakers got out to an early lead over the Hornets was they shot the ball incredibly well in the first half. As soon as Charlotte put the brakes on the Lakers’ offense, the game completely changed. Getting better defensively will be a slow process, as this road trip has made clear.

2. Jordan Clarkson and Nick Young have combined for 24 three-pointers in the past two games. They combined for 12 Tuesday night with Clarkson making a career-high seven and Young five.

3. Tarik Black tried to test his ankle a few games ago, but he’s still experiencing some swelling and didn’t participate in Tuesday’s team shootaround because of soreness.

4. Julius Randle had a better defensive game than offensive game. When he saw his shots weren’t falling, he said he worked to make sure he could affect the game in other ways. Lakers Coach Luke Walton said after the game he wanted to see more consistency out of Randle. He said Randle will be “brilliant” at times, while other times he won’t be himself. Walton’s standards are high for Randle.

5. Randle’s plan all along was to go home for the Lakers’ off day and then miss one practice to be with his fiancee, who is expecting a baby soon. He returned in time for Tuesday morning’s shootaround still waiting for the pending baby. “He needs to make up his mind,” Randle said.

tania.ganguli@latimes.com

Twitter: @taniaganguli