After blowout loss, Kobe Bryant tries to calm anxious Lakers fans: 'Relax'

The Los Angeles Lakers might be struggling without injured leader LeBron James, but a former star isn't worried.

After a blowout loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday in which they had their worst shooting performance of the season, the Lakers fell to 1-5 without James, who suffered a strained left groin in a Christmas Day game. Second-leading scorer Kyle Kuzma also missed the game with a back contusion.

Hours later, Lakers legend Kobe Bryant responded to a Twitter follower and tried to calm the nerves of any potentially anxious fans.

"Relax," Bryant tweeted. "Entire squad is damn near out. Were playing pretty well before that #gethealthy #lakerfam."

With James in the lineup, the Lakers were 20-14 and in fourth place in the Western Conference after defeating the Golden State Warriors on Christmas. But in a tightly packed West playoff race, one poor six-game stretch could mean missing out on a top-four seed and home-court advantage in the first round. Or missing the playoff field completely.

With Sunday's 108-86 loss, the Lakers fell to 21-19 overall and dropped to eighth place in the West, one game ahead of the Utah Jazz and just three ahead of the 14th-place New Orleans Pelicans.

"We've got to play with some passion and fire," Los Angeles coach Luke Walton said Sunday. "It's hard to win in this league when you're healthy. You've got to give double that effort when guys are down."

They aren't at full strength now, but Bryant believes the Lakers will be just fine once they do get healthy.

Follow Matt Eppers on Twitter @meppers_.