The Los Angeles Lakers have lost three games in a row and sit a season-worst 27-34. Anthony Davis is weeks away from returning. Yet, LeBron James isn't quite ready to throw in the towel.
Even if he feels like — in his words – “poop.”
LeBron and the Lakers fell to the Dallas Mavericks, 109-104, at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday. Once again, Los Angeles came out flat and dug themselves a double-digit deficit in the first half — and, once again, surrendered 70+ points before halftime — before making a thunderous third-quarter run to reclaim the lead. We've seen this movie before.
But Luka Doncic and the Mavs fended off the Lakers' advances (and their staunch defense) to close the ballgame out, sparked by an 11-0 run late in the fourth quarter.
As long as LeBron is lacing up his Nikes, though, he believes his team can win any game. He's not ready to fold.
“Until you stomp me out, cut my head off, bury me 12 feet under, then I got a chance,” LeBron said, after posting 26/12/5 on 10-of-18 shooting. “So, that’s my confidence. Obviously, at the end of the day, we’ve got to come in here and win ballgames and we got to play better. But as long as we got more games to play, we still have a chance.”
“I hate losing,” he added. “I feel like poop right now. But tomorrow’s a new day, and I’m going to be prepared for the Clippers on Thursday.”
Russell Westbrook and Frank Vogel were also asked why they remain confident — not just hopeful — about the Lakers' chances of finishing the season strong.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1bS8UiZo3SFCm4SvDh5uv5?si=01cee24915c3430e
“Well, we've got a resilient group,” Vogel said, dubiously. “We've got three guys that are top-75 all-time. We're hoping to get another one back. We've got some young guys that are playing their tails off and are bringing great energy to our group. We're doing enough in stretches to give us belief. We just haven't been able to close out these last few games.”
“Super confident that we're going to be alright,” Westbrook curtly said when asked if he's confident about the team's chances of motivating themselves to care about the Play-In. He elaborated to a follow-question a few minutes later:
“I've got confidence in this group, like I always have. And we can play the best teams. I'm not worried about nobody we have to play. We've beaten the best teams, we've lost to some of the worst teams. So, our confidence and my confidence in this group is extremely high because I know what we're capable of when we put our mind to it and do exactly what we need to do on a night-in, night-out basis.”
The Mavs loss dropped Lakers' record against winning teams this season to 9-22.
The next couple of weeks will reveal if the Lakers truly believe those words and care enough to make one final push or are simply clinging to false hope. As LeBron pointed out, the most productive thing they can do at this point is: shake off another loss, move forward, and try not to compound their struggles.
LeBron on if the Play-In game is motivating to the Lakers: "We gotta try to win one basketball game right now…As far as the Play-in, can't even really think about that right now."
— Michael Corvo (@michaelcorvoNBA) March 2, 2022
“This game is over and done with,” he said. “We had our chances, played good basketball, defended well versus one of the best offensive teams…It all depends on how we respond.”
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