The Los Angeles Lakers officially begin their second half on Friday night as they clash with the Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena. Returning to the lineup is Carmelo Anthony, who has missed the last five games due to a hamstring strain.

Prior to the contest, the Lakers veteran was asked if he thinks this team has the ability to make a deep playoff push. By no surprise, Melo had no doubts they can. Via Spectrum SN:

“I think we're built for it. I think we're built for the postseason, it's just some things we can't control. Injuries we can't control, you don't know how that's gonna come, you don't know the effect that's gonna have on that individual or the team as well so those are things we can't control but I think now the second half of the season, only 24 games left, so its crunch time and we definitely need to change our approach.”

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Of course, Anthony Davis went down with another injury prior to the All-Star break and is set to miss another few weeks at the very least. That's a huge blow for the Lakers, who now are missing arguably their best defender and one of their best players. At 27-31, the Lakers are likely going to be in the play-in tournament unless they really turn things around here.

The Russell Westbrook experiment isn't working and LeBron James is basically left to carry the load all on his own. But at least Melo is now back and hopefully, he can help Los Angeles make a bit of a run at a top-eight seed.