The Los Angeles Lakers season can be best described as a sense of whiplash. Some days they look like one of the best teams in the NBA and others, they look like they couldn’t beat anyone. It’s been frustrating for everyone involved, considering they entered the year coming off a run to the Western Conference Finals. Their two stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis have been relatively healthy throughout the season, but they’ve still struggled to maintain any sense of consistency.

The team just finished a brutal stretch of their schedule but did surprisingly well all things considered. The Lakers’ schedule now eases up a little bit, but they know they can’t take their foot off the gas with the playoffs coming up. Los Angeles is fighting for their postseason lives, currently sitting in 9th place within the Western Conference standings.

James mentioned that even with the recent poor losses to the Sacramento Kings and Denver Nuggets, he still believes that they have been playing well. “We already knew we were in the gauntlet of our schedule,” James said. “We already knew we had all the teams that were coming in, everybody positioning and jockeying. Some of the best teams in the league. … We knew it was a tough stretch for our ballclub. But even with the loss to Denver, even with the loss to Sac both times, we’ve still been playing some good ball.” Per LeBron James via The Athletic While they have dropped some games that they could have easily won, the Lakers have also beaten some good teams.

They took down the Oklahoma City Thunder, Milwaukee Bucks without James and the Minnesota Timberwolves. It’s been an up-and-down year for the Lakers, but they believe all they need to do is make the playoffs and then the real games begin. This team believes in themselves against anyone in the league, and while it may be tough to watch at times, this is the reality of the situation.