LOS ANGELES – Disaster averted. Barely.

The Lakers held off the Dallas Mavericks 114-113 after nearly blowing a 19-point lead in the second half.

The defeat would have been painful for the Lakers, who improved to 3-5 goals to continue during James' inaugural season with the team.

James, who missed two free throws late in the last year of the San Antonio Spurs last week, 113-113. With the tension cresting at Staples Center, James hit his second free throw and Dallas' J.J. Barea missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

James addressed the team's difficulties in closing out games, with the Lakers having lost two games by four points and a third in overtime.

"Listen, I'm extremely happy we're going through it," he said. "You can talk about it, you can watch it, you can watch it, it's the best teacher, and it's great. on the other side of it.

"… Same situation against San Antonio, we lost .. Same situation happened tonight, we won." So it's great to learn from it. "

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Dallas was on a 15-2 run before the free throw by James, who had a game-high 29 points, six badists and five rebounds.

The Lakers took a 19-point lead at 87-69 when Lonzo Ball made a 3-pointer with 4:40 left to play in the third quarter. Los Angeles led by 14 with 4:16 left in the fourth.

James also blamed himself for committing a cardinal sin in the fourth quarter when he gave up a wide-open 3-pointer to Harrison Barnes.

"That just can not happen," he said. "You can put that one on me."

Follow Josh Peter on Twitter @ joshlpeter11.