MY ACCOUNT
LeBron James is adamant the Los Angeles Lakers are still capable of ending their season on a high, despite falling to a sixth defeat in seven games on Tuesday.
The Lakers lost 109-104 to the Dallas Mavericks at Crypto.com Arena to slide to a season-worst seven games below .500, leaving them ninth in the Western Conference.
James led the scoring with 26 points, one more than Mavs star Luka Doncic, but it was not enough for the 27-34 hosts as their poor run continued.
But despite the Lakers’ ongoing struggles, James is not ready to write off the remainder of the 2021-22 campaign with 21 games of the regular season still to go.
“We still have games to play,” he told reporters. “Until you stomp me out, cut my head off, bury me 12 feet under, then I got a chance. So that’s my confidence.
“Obviously, at the end of the day, we got to come in here and win ball games and we got to play better but as long as we’ve got more games to play, we should have a chance.
“I feel like poop right now. But tomorrow is a new day and I’m going to be prepared and ready for the Clippers on Thursday. That’s just my mindset. That’s just who I am.”
James has missed 17 games this season through injury, but the 37-year-old shot down suggestions he will use the final stages of this season as an opportunity to rest up.
“The only way it’ll be back to full strength is with rest,” he said. “But I don’t have the luxury of having rest. It can wait until the off-season.”
The Lakers made up a 21-point deficit to lead 100-94 with seven minutes to play, but 11 consecutive points ensured the Mavericks claimed an eighth win in 10 outings.
Luka Doncic stepped up by scoring seven of his 25 points in the final quarter and is now averaging 27.5 per game for the season – a tally bettered by only six others.
“We stayed together and just executed the game plan, played the game,” Doncic said. “My mentality is to close the game with the best shot possible.”
Los Angeles managed only four points in the final seven-plus minutes and head coach Frank Vogel accepted there is a lot to improve on.
“Our guys really competed,” he said. “Our helpers really competed, but he had that stretch in crunch time where he scored a few buckets in a row.
“It wasn’t good enough. It hurts. All these guys are hurting in there. We’re putting in the work.”
