LeBron James confident his struggling Lakers can salvage season: 'Until you stomp me out ... I got a chance'

 

Despite clawing back from a 21-point deficit in the second quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers dropped their third straight game in a 109-104 loss to the Dallas Mavericks Tuesday night. LeBron James helped give the Lakers a fighting chance in the third quarter after draining three consecutive 3-pointers, but Luka Doncic and the Mavericks ended the last seven minutes of the fourth quarter on a 15-4 run to win the game. 

Though the Lakers showed some fight in the second half, there were still glaring issues that caused L.A. to fall behind by 21 points, like giving up 41 points in the second quarter alone. The loss moves the Lakers (27-34) closer to dropping further in the Western Conference standings, where they currently rank ninth, with the New Orleans Pelicans and Portland Trail Blazers just two games behind them. If L.A. keeps putting up stinkers, like the abysmal 28-point loss against the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday, then it'll risk falling out of the play-in tournament altogether. 

To make matters worse, the upcoming schedule for the Lakers won't make things easier for them as they have games against the Clippers, Warriors and Suns all within the next two weeks. Eleven of their next 15 games in the month of March are also on the road, where the Lakers have posted a lowly 9-18 record on the season. However, even with the cards appearing to be stacked against the Lakers going forward, LeBron is still confident his team has a chance to improve on their standing.

"We still have games to play," James said after the loss to Dallas. "Until you stomp me out, cut my head off, bury me 12 feet under, then I got a chance. So that's my confidence."

Teammate Russell Westbrook, who has struggled mightily this season and finished Tuesday night's game with just 12 points on a 5-for-17 performance, echoed James' comments.

"Super confident that we're going to be all right," Westbrook said. "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."

Westbrook also recognized that he personally needs to play better: "What I'm doing right now ain't good enough."

Westbrook's inefficiency this season has been one of the issues plaguing the Lakers, as he's shooting just 43 percent from the field and 28 percent from deep. His fit alongside LeBron hasn't been as seamless as the Lakers would've hoped, and with Anthony Davis sidelined again with a mid-foot sprain, LeBron doesn't have a ton of help around him to win games. Injuries have been another area where the Lakers have found no help, as they seem to be trotting out a different lineup on a weekly basis. Even LeBron has dealt with his fair share of ailments, forcing him to miss 17 games this season. But despite dealing with various injuries, LeBron has no plan to shut down for the rest of the season, per ESPN's Dave McMenamin. 

So that leaves the Lakers to try to figure things out for the remainder of the season. If they can start to string together some wins and move up the standings in the West, they'll be a tough team to beat in the play-in tournament because of LeBron. We've seen him carry worse teams to deep playoff runs, and while he's far older than his early days in Cleveland, he has a knack for shining on the biggest stage. We'll have to see if he still has enough left in the tank to carry this team to the playoffs, because if L.A. gets there, LeBron and the Lakers should still be considered a tough out in the West.