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When last season concluded, LeBron James was on the ground outside a makeshift NBA locker room on a modest arena, wearing ski goggles shielding his eyes from the sting of champagne. In one hand, a victory cigar blew smoke. In the other, a cell phone connected him to his mother, Gloria.
“I love you. I love you,” he said. “You are the reason I can even do this.”
Seventy-two days later, James once again had a phone in his hand and his mother’s face on the screen, this time with the Lakers poised to receive their 2019-20 championship rings.
What should have been a precious moment for James, celebrating his first title with the Lakers, his fourth overall with three organizations, felt too different.
Bittersweet, he called it.
Perhaps if more time had passed, if the country had managed the pandemic better, that phone call could have been a face-to-face smile, a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Instead, it was the start of another isolated path, James and the Lakers began their title defense with a reminder that not enough time has passed for many things to have changed.
It was just the Lakers, alone on a basketball court, friends and family reduced to digitized versions.
“It even felt weird to have a basketball game today,” James said after the Lakers lost 116-109 to the Clippers.
James sat the final 7 minutes and 51 seconds of the game after spraining an ankle despite the game still being a competition. He played just over 28 minutes, the fewest he has ever recorded in a season opener. While he scored 22 points, his five rebounds and five assists speak to the quiet impact he had on the game after leading the NBA last season with 10.2 assists per game.
He said the ankle injury won’t keep him away from the Lakers’ Christmas game against Dallas and Luke Doncic.
Typically after games, reporters wait around his locker as he dons his carefully selected outfit, matching sneakers and hat.
On Tuesday, he sat down to do his post-game video conference, starting with a huge yawn and wearing a wave cap, team shirt, and black leather motorcycle jacket – more Mad Libs attire than usual.
“Just a strange day,” he said. “Celebrating a historic moment with our franchise, a historic run with what we did last year, and then having to do without our family, friends, and fans, it’s just a weird day, overall. And after going straight to basketball competition, it was a strange day, to say the least. “
It’s the beginning of what could be a strange few weeks for the Lakers.
James and Anthony Davis were dominant as the team went through the malaise of the NBA bubble to win their first championship together. The superstar duo looked at each other Tuesday after the game and wondered how it was possible that they were back on the court competing already.
“It’s only been a couple of months,” Davis said wistfully.
The Lakers stars who carried the heaviest loads during their title run aren’t ready to go head-to-head against a duo like Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, the Clippers stars who combined for 59 points in 70 minutes of court time compared to 40 points in 59 minutes for James and Davis.
It’s a formula that coach Frank Vogel seems willing to follow: embrace struggles early in the season, with the Lakers and their coach concentrating on the big picture.
“We’re going to be conservative with his minutes early in the season, and we have the depth to do it,” he said. “We didn’t play well enough to win tonight’s game, but we have the depth to manage his minutes wisely early in the season as we try to get our legs underneath us. And we will continue to do so. “
It’s not just your legs. They are their heads.
The team spent 95 days in the bubble, mostly alone, trying to win the championship they held with no one but themselves. Then the offseason escalated, with a play on words, and the Lakers had to get back to work a lot faster than anyone wanted.
“It’s not the fact that he’s starting over, it’s the fact that he’s already here,” James said. “I’ve always had a routine of how I prepare for a season after a Finals race or after a playoff race, knowing the amount of time I have for my body, for my mind, for the team that we have. to be. … It was too much. I can’t even sit here and lie to you. It was too much to understand. But we are at it now. I’m happy that today is over and we can focus on the season. But its a lot. It’s a lot to process. “
It was something both Davis and James expressed, an emotion that opening night came and went despite the emotions that came from receiving their championship rings.
Because there were other emotions too, with the comeback season so close to wrapping itself in the bubble: reluctance, discomfort, and ultimately grudging acceptance.
“We are here,” Davis said. “There is nothing we can do about it.”
The Lakers have been pushed back into the pool, and even if they have to step in the water for a while to get used to things, they will eventually be ready to swim, James said.
“I’m happy that we were able to get our feet under us, happy that we were able to get back on the ground,” he said. “We know what this season is going to entail. Now we can move on. We can move on from last year’s season. It was an amazing race for us in [2019-20], now we can focus on [2020-21].
“We hope that”.
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