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The Los Angeles Lakers are struggling, butLeBron Jamesstill feels it isn’t too late to save their season.
Last summer, the team made headlines after they made a series of adjustments to their roster, namely a blockbuster trade for NBA veteranRussell Westbrook. To land the point guard, the Lakers shipped out former Sixth Man of the Year Montrezl Harrell, as well as Kyle Kuzma and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who were members of theLakers' 2020 championship team.
Now with just 21 games left in the season, the Lakers have only won three out of their last 10 games, and James is holding on to hope that they can go on a last-minute run to secure a spot in the playoffs.
“Until you stomp me out, cut my head off, bury me 12 feet under, then I got a chance,” James, 37, toldreportersafter the loss to Dallas (the team’s third consecutive defeat). “So, that’s my confidence. Obviously, at the end of the day, we’ve got to come in here and win ballgames and we got to play better.”
“But as long as we got more games to play, we still have a chance,” he added.
James, a four-time NBA champion, hasonly missed the playoffs three timessince joining the league in 2003.
But there is a real chance the Lakers could make it a fourth time this year, despite having five potential future Hall of Famers on the team, including, James, Westbrook,Carmelo Anthony,Dwight HowardandAnthony Davis.
“I hate losing. I feel like poop right now,” James said. “But tomorrow’s a new day, and I’m going to be prepared for the Clippers on Thursday.”
Earlier this week, the Lakers suffered a painful 123-95 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans in Los Angeles, where footage of fansbooingthe team went viral.
In one instance, James was seengetting into it with a fan mid-game, telling the heckler to “shut yo a— up.”
After Tuesday’s loss, he told reporters, “If you follow my career, I will get into it with a fan. So, that wasn’t nothing out of the ordinary for me.”
He added that he didn’t want the fan to “tell me how to play basketball. Not him. Not that guy.”
source: people.com
