LOS ANGELES — The Lakers found a new way to lose, this one as painful for them as any of the others.

They trailed by 21 in the second quarter, rallied to take the lead but ultimately lost to the Dallas Mavericks, 109-104, Tuesday at Crypto.com Arena

LeBron James started the rally but couldn’t finish it, fading down the stretch as the Lakers lost their third consecutive game since the All-Star break.

The Lakers (27-34) remain firmly lodged in ninth place in the Western Conference and now lead New Orleans and Portland by only two games. The top 10 teams in the West play beyond the regular season.

Tuesday’s effort was markedly better than the Lakers’ 28-point loss to New Orleans two days earlier. Then again, almost anything was an improvement from that turnover-filled, defensively absent night.

Things certainly didn’t look good for the Lakers in the first half against Dallas. They allowed 71 points while Dallas ripped through them for easy drives to the hoop, not to mention eight three-pointers.

Then came the third quarter, an issue for the Lakers 48 hours earlier when they allowed 44 points to New Orleans. Not so on Tuesday.

James led the way by hitting a three-pointer from the side of the Lakers’ logo near midcourt. It was officially 31 feet, but somehow seemed longer. Then he hit another one to tie the score at 78-78 with 4:24 left in the third quarter. It was a mere 25 feet, roughly two feet beyond the three-point line.

Monk gave them the lead two minutes later, following up James’ miss on an alley-oop effort.

Monk scored 17 points on the night and awoke from a five-game slumber where he averaged only eight points while shooting 20% from three-point range. He made three three-pointers against Dallas but was only two for eight from two-point range.

“Too many missed layups by me,” he said.

It looked like James would be the story of the comeback. Early in the fourth quarter, he drilled a fadeaway and threw down a driving dunk as the Lakers extended their lead.

He came up short in the final five minutes, turning over the ball twice and missing three shots, including an air-ball three-point attempt with 24.7 seconds left and the Lakers down six. He finished with 26 points.

“We had our chances and played good basketball. At the end of the day, I’ve got to make plays to help us win basketball games,” James said. “I’ll just try to be better.”

The Lakers have trailed by large margins in several games, only to make a comeback before falling short.

“It’s super tiring man. We’re all sick of it, just like the fans are,” Monk said. “We’ve got to get it together.”

Luka Doncic had 25 points for Dallas, which revamped its team in a big way two weeks ago before the trade deadline, sending away big man Kristaps Porzingis for guard Spencer Dinwiddie. The results had been solid — 3-1 with Dinwiddie, including wins over Miami and Golden State.

Make that 4-1 now and 37-25 this season.

It doesn’t get any easier from here for the Lakers.

They play a designated road game Thursday against the Clippers, host Golden State on Saturday and then hit the road for 13 of their final 19 games.