The Los Angeles Lakers got one of their best wins of the season on Saturday night against the Dallas Mavericks. They significantly tightened their defense in the fourth quarter to complete a 15-point comeback, showing a new level of grit the team has lacked this season. Luka Doncic led the way, but LeBron James, Jake LaRavia, Marcus Smart and Rui Hachimura all had strong showings as well.
The win kept the Lakers at the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference, 0.5 games ahead of the Phoenix Suns at No. 6 and 0.5 games behind the Houston Rockets at No. 4. They have now won three of their last four games, all three wins coming in relatively impressive ways.
They handled the Toronto Raptors — the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference — comfortably. They toughed out a win against the short-handed Denver Nuggets and completed the comeback against Dallas. Earlier this season, getting gritty wins against higher-level opponents was hard to come by for this Lakers team.
Because of that, LeBron is hoping that they can use this recent stretch to gain some momentum for the rest of the season, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN:
“That’s the unknown, but that’s what you hope [for], obviously,” James said when asked if the Lakers are starting to build momentum. “That’s the unknown, but you play the game. We got to now prepare ourselves for Chicago. … So we got to keep this road trip going.”
The Lakers have five games remaining on their current road trip. They face the Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Washington Wizards, New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets before returning to Los Angeles. That includes three very beatable opponents and two great tests.
What the Lakers do in those five games will significantly determine how much momentum they have for the stretch run of the season and could even determine how much the front office is willing to stick their neck out for a trade.
LeBron James refuses to comment on roster ahead of trade deadline
James was asked about what changes the team might need to make to reach the next level of contention this season, and he declined to answer, saying it would be disrespectful to the guys on the roster. He instead focused on Austin Reaves being out of the lineup and the team’s lack of consistency with injuries so far this season.
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