LeBron James hasn't lost faith in his team despite not being able to fight their way out of the play-in tournament standings.
“We already knew the schedule was going to be tough,” James told reporters after Wednesday's 120-107 loss to the Sacramento Kings. “We already knew we had all the teams coming in, everyone was positioning and jockeying. We had some of the best teams in the league. It was a tough situation for our ball club. We knew it was going to happen. But even if we lost to Denver, even though our team lost, even though we lost both sacks, we still played good ball.”
James had his worst game of the season against Sacramento, finishing with 18 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists, making just 6 of 16 field goal attempts. Austin Reeves led Los Angeles with 28 points, while Anthony Davis also had a relatively steady performance with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
The Lakers entered Wednesday in desperate need of a win to catch up with Sacramento in the playoff race. They currently sit three games back of the Kings for the No. 6 seed (and four games back in the loss column), which also serves as their final bye in the play-in.
The Lakers have 15 games left before overtaking the Kings, Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns in the standings.
While advancing to the Western Conference Finals from the No. 7 seed last year gives hope, these Lakers are not the team they were a year ago finding their footing after a midseason roster shuffle. Although Los Angeles had a stable core and no major injuries, they were hopelessly inconsistent.
Perhaps the Lakers are a No. 9 seed right now simply because they have the fundamentals and coaching of a No. 9 seed. Even with James and Davis leading the way, the Lakers haven't proven they can flip the switch and win when they need it most.
