LeBron James is not someone who points fingers at his teammates, although he will glower if someone makes a bonehead play like J.R. Smith did last year in the NBA playoffs. This includes his short tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers, who just pulled out a close one-point win over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night. The problem is that the game should have never been that close, as the Lakers had a double-digit lead at one point. In an interview after the game, LeBron said that he took responsibility for how close the game was and said it was due to a dumb mistake on his part.

Lakers almost lose to Mavs

The Los Angeles Lakers dominated the Dallas Mavericks almost the entire game. LeBron James and his new teammates had a double-digit lead for almost the entire game but then things fell apart at the end. The final score of the game was 114-113, which was much closer than it should have been.

Even though the Dallas Mavericks roared back to life in the fourth period, it was a late play by LeBron James that made the game as close as it ended up being. It was poor defense by one of the best players in the NBA.

The Los Angeles Lakers led by four at that point and LeBron James was tasked with covering Harrison Barnes. While James is not the defender he once was in his younger days, he is still someone who can, and should, lock down any player he needs to defend.

He didn't do that against Barnes.

Instead, Barnes went down and made a wide-open three-point shot to cut the deficit to just one point with 24.5 seconds remaining. LeBron was supposed to be there to cover Barnes and he wasn't, which made the three easy. In the interview, LeBron said he made a "dumb mistake" and that it was a "cardinal sin" to give up a corner three when up by four.

LeBron James said that people can put that mistake on him. This is huge too because he is teaching his young teammates that it is not a bad thing to accept responsibility for a mistake and hopefully these are the lessons that will help the Los Angeles Lakers mature as a team.

Up next for LeBron and the Lakers

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers now get two days of rest.

The Lakers are 3-5 on the 2018-29 NBA season and the win over the Dallas Mavericks broke a two-game losing streak. Up next for the Lakers is their second game with the Portland Trail Blazers this season.

The last time that the Lakers and the 5-2 Trail Blazers played, it was the opening game of the season when Portland won, 128-119.
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