The Los Angeles Lakers continued their downward slide on Sunday afternoon, losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves by a score of 108-86. The Lakers have now lost three straight games, and Laker nation is in a panic as the team slipped to the eight seed in the Western Conference.  To calm these fears, Lakers legend Kobe Bryant tweeted out a message that assured fans better times were coming:

Kobe Bryant makes some great points. The Lakers are missing their best player in LeBron James and arguably their second best in Kyle Kuzma. Rajon Rondo is also out with a hand injury, and he has been a key piece off the bench all season.

The six-time All-Star is also correct in his assessment of the Lakers' play before the injury bug struck. The Lakers were 20-14 before James was injured, and a solid fifth seed in the West. The team had surpassed almost everyone's expectations and was actually hanging with some of the best teams in the league.

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Since the injury, the Lakers have gone 1-5, including a very embarrassing loss to the New York Knicks in Staples Center.

While the Lakers will improve tremendously once James is back, they can't afford to lose so many games in a packed Western Conference. If they drop too many, even LeBron won't be able to climb that hill.

The Lakers need to stay afloat with their superstar out. If they do, they will be in decent shape when the playoffs roll around.