The Los Angeles Lakers may have suffered a blowout 132-119 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday that ultimately eliminated them from NBA Cup contention, but that shouldn't set the tone for the rest of the season or diminish what the Lakers have accomplished so far.

Although now with the NBA Cup firmly in the rearview for Los Angeles, there's only one more goal ahead: the ultimate goal of an NBA Championship.

It won't be an easy road to get there, but the Lakers have proved so far this season that they have the powerhouse talent and well-roundedness to make a deep run into the playoffs, if not take the whole thing. Still, there's a lot of season left to be played, and the Lakers certainly can't afford to take their foot off the gas now. Instead, they need to keep taking everything game by game. 

LeBron "Can't Think" About the Playoffs Quite Yet

LeBron James is hesitant to even think about the playoffs at this point, and despite his confidence in his team's abilities, he knows better than anyone else in the league how much work it takes to get to that point and how important a commitment to consistent excellence is to be able to compete for the NBA crown at the end of the season.

“I can’t think about what we can do in the playoffs in December," James said (via Dave McMenamin of ESPN). "What I can say is that the habits that we've built throughout the regular season, each month, that we are in a position to make it to the postseason and be able to get to that point. Well, we have to build it now."

The Lakers have gotten to this point in the season so successfully, largely due to their well-rounded offense. They are 10th in the league in points per game and are tied for the fourth-best record in the league. Still, there are several holes in their game that need to be addressed to sustain their success. 

How The Lakers Can Get Playoff Ready

They're an average assisting team, a natural occurrence considering the ball-dominant natures of James, Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves, but they stand out as one of the worst rebounding teams in the NBA at 26th in average rebounds. Their defense is also something that's been much maligned this season, shown by the 116.8 points per game that they allow to opponents. 

There is still a lot to address for the Lakers to hold up against some of the NBA's best teams late in the season, but more than that, James doesn't want to tempt fate by making any assumptions about what his team will be capable of months down the road. 

"Talking about what type of damage we can do in the postseason in December, that’s not right for the Basketball Gods.”