LOS ANGELES — As Anthony Davis spoke about the “belief” the Lakers have to go 5-0 for the rest of the regular season – a streak they haven’t achieved all season – LeBron James chewed on the end of his designer sunglasses.

Moments before, James conceded Friday night, “it pretty much was a must-win for us,” when the Lakers had come up a shot short against the New Orleans Pelicans. But he did not appear to be stunned or in shock. He sent messages on his phone as he sat next to Davis, even cracking a small smile now and then, a subtle public acknowledgement of some private correspondence on his screen.

When asked if this was the most challenging experience he’s faced across 19 NBA seasons, James said no: His first year in Miami, when he had turned from NBA hero to heel and lost in the Finals, was harder. By comparison, this season – which may end up totaling more losses than any team in his career (49 as a rookie) – was met with a shrug.

“I mean, I hate losing,” he said. “This is not what none of us signed up for obviously. But it’s not the worst thing that has happened to me so far.”

What James, Davis and Russell Westbrook seemed to show in their faces, if not their words, was acceptance. For the Lakers, things haven’t worked out. They aren’t working out. They won’t work out.

On Friday night, they gave their last, best shot with James and Davis playing through pain. But the injuries may have slowed them down, and without them at their best, the surrounding cast hasn’t been good enough to carry the day against even mediocre opponents.

The Lakers (31-46) are effectively two games (because of a tiebreaker) behind the San Antonio Spurs (32-45) with five games to go, and aside from a fabled run – the likes of which hasn’t happened with this team – they won’t even get a shot at a single-elimination play-in game despite open-throated championship expectations from the start of the season.

It still could come down to the wire. Or it may be over early next week. But the Lakers didn’t seem fazed by letting a game get by them that powerfully alters their chances for the playoffs – and that might be surrender.

“You gotta move on,” said Russell Westbrook, as brief as he often is at the podium. “Get ready for the next one.”

It’s been a consistent sentiment for Westbrook after an 0-6 preseason, when the team struggled to get above .500 early in the season, when he slumped in the middle and now at the end: Keep looking forward, keep moving on. Only now, there’s no runway left.

The Lakers have tough games lined up against Denver, Phoenix and Golden State this week. The Spurs get the tanking Trail Blazers again Sunday; they finish with the Nuggets, Wolves, Warriors and Mavericks, but contenders may choose to start resting stars as the playoffs approach. It seems less likely, for example, that Phoenix might rest stars against the Lakers this week after Davis’ recent comments that the Suns “got away with one” in last year’s playoffs because of his injury.

Davis may be one of the most upbeat voices of the team, memorably saying early this season that he believed the Lakers were capable of winning 10 consecutive games at any moment and altering their season. Not only has L.A. won four in a row only one time (when Davis was injured in January), they haven’t won consecutive games since Jan. 7. Their 4-15 record since the All-Star break is tied for second worst in the league.

The catalyst in that collapse was Davis’ injury against the Utah Jazz on Feb. 16, when he clipped Rudy Gobert’s heel and landed awkwardly on his right foot. Davis has tried to not think about the past two seasons, when he has missed 75 out of 149 possible games, as a whole, but tried to focus on each rehab process as its own challenge.

That became tough as the Lakers wilted without him down the stretch. He tried to come back earlier, hoping to play as early as Sunday’s game in New Orleans, where he once was the franchise star. But physically, he couldn’t bring himself there. Even Friday night, Davis admitted, he wasn’t all the way healed – which may have factored into scoring just four points in the final period and two misses in the final three minutes.

“The urgency was always there to try and get back; the foot was just not participating,” he said. “And then after the road trip, it was just, ‘All right, let’s do it. Just go and see what happens.’ I’m not all the way where I want it to be and maybe that’s where the discomfort was in the fourth quarter.”

The one Laker who spoke to the press Friday night and has more to lose than anyone was coach Frank Vogel. With only a one-year extension past this season, Vogel started the season with a lukewarm endorsement from the franchise, and has struggled to repeat his defensive success of past seasons with a cast that he’s admitted is unsuited for his style of play. The past few games have seen Vogel stretch and reach as much as ever, starting his 38th different lineup of the season and benching Austin Reaves and Talen Horton-Tucker in favor of veterans like Avery Bradley.

While Vogel was close to being validated by Bradley in particular, who hit a late 3-pointer that gave the Lakers a chance, he ultimately looked the most defeated by the result. Missing the play-in game only continues to fuel widespread speculation that Vogel’s L.A. tenure – with a 2020 championship at its high point – could end after the season.

Vogel looked pained. But he stuck to his optimistic, forward-looking script.

“Put this one behind us, we competed, we fell short,” he said. “We have to beat Denver, start the recovery now.”

The Lakers may not have their full complement against Denver, although the game against the Nuggets has just as high stakes as the loss to the Pelicans. James and Davis are day-to-day with soreness. Carmelo Anthony may return from his non-COVID-related illness that caused him to miss Friday’s game.

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Davis kept suggesting that within the Lakers locker room, somehow, they haven’t wavered in their confidence.

“We don’t play off hope and ‘Let’s hope we win this game,’” he said. “We have belief and I believe. I know this guy to my left believes, and everyone in that locker room believes.”

Even if that’s somehow still the case, even belief, now and then, requires some evidence.

Denver at Lakers

When: 12:30 p.m. Sunday

Where: Crypto.com Arena

TV/Radio: Spectrum SportsNet/ESPN LA 710