MILWAUKEE — The Los Angeles Lakers were minutes removed from their fifth straight road game on Thursday night when LeBron James was asked about the prospect of heading home to play the Denver Nuggets on Sunday. James processed the question for a split second, then reclined in his folding chair as if he were on a beach towel in Hawaii. He smiled and rubbed his head.
“I got home coming up,” James said. “I cannot wait to get home to my wife and my kids and my family. We’ll worry about Sunday when Sunday gets here. It feels like we’ve been on the road all year, to be honest. So I’m giving myself an opportunity to decompress, please.”
This was in the visiting locker room at Fiserv Forum, where the Lakers had lost to the Milwaukee Bucks, 111-104. It was the Lakers’ second straight loss, which they had made a goal of avoiding this season. But they seemed to come away from the game feeling all right about themselves, which was reasonable given the circumstances. The Lakers’ last home game was on Dec. 8, and they have played 16 of its 28 games on the road after opening with a game against the Clippers, their co-tenants at Staples Center.
“We’re encouraged,” Coach Frank Vogel said, “about who we’re going to be this year.”
Injured and weary from the road, the Lakers had actually outplayed the Bucks in the second half on Thursday after trailing by as many as 21 points. Kyle Kuzma missed his fifth straight game with a sprained right ankle, leaving the Lakers with a thinner bench than usual, but Anthony Davis was brilliant, collecting 36 points and 10 rebounds on a sore right ankle of his own.
As for James, he came away with another triple-double in a career full of them — and the sort of confidence that comes with knowing that his team is capable of much more. The Lakers left Milwaukee with a 24-5 record, still atop the Western Conference and still firm in the belief that they can compete for an N.B.A. championship.
Asked what he had learned about his team during the week-and-a-half long journey through the Southeast and Midwest, James said: “Nothing, really. I know what this team is all about. As close as you guys see us on the floor, we’re probably closer off the floor. And we continue to build chemistry, continue to build camaraderie. Pretty much every time anyone does anything, we pretty much do it together.”
The loss illustrated the gulf between last season and this season for the Lakers — mostly, because it did not feel like much of a loss at all. Last season, the Lakers spiraled after a decent start. Last season, James played with the angst of a star who knew his supporting cast was flawed. Last season, Davis was still employed by the New Orleans Pelicans. The looming specter of his presence on the Lakers in the form of a potential trade only further corroded the locker room.
It was a miserable season. Morale cratered. The losses piled up. James injured his groin, then watched the playoffs from home for the first time since 2005.
Davis, of course, has changed everything for the franchise: the mood, the atmosphere, the belief among the Lakers that they can beat anyone. Now, they just need to prove it.
The Lakers showed up having absorbed the punishment of their grueling schedule: five straight away from home, and eight of their last nine. James banged his elbow in Miami. Davis sprained his ankle in Atlanta. By the time the Lakers arrived in Indianapolis on Tuesday for a game against the Pacers, half the players on the team seemed to be coming down with colds. Los Angeles lost that game by 3.
Milwaukee was the final leg of the trip, and it showed. The Lakers committed 19 turnovers, which was more of a trend. After they had 22 turnovers in a narrow win against the Hawks on Sunday, Vogel said he was concerned about his team’s sloppiness. He got a 4 a.m. text from Rick Pitino, one of his coaching mentors from their time at Kentucky. Pitino, now the coach of Panathinaikos in Greece, had watched the game on television.
“He was telling me how impressed he was with how hard we played,” Vogel said. “And when I watched the film at 5 in the morning, I concurred.”
Vogel still wants his players to be more careful with the ball, but he does not seem concerned: They should get better about that over the season.
James, meanwhile, continues to defy normal human limitations. Now in his 17th season, James is averaging 25.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and a league-leading 10.6 assists a game. One of three remaining players from his draft class — Kyle Korver and Carmelo Anthony are the others — James will turn 35 on Dec. 30. He was recently asked whether he was playing the best basketball of his career. He did not say no.
“I feel great,” he said, adding: “I just want to see if I can continue to keep it going.”
James said he would give himself Friday to avoid thinking about basketball — but then stopped himself.
“That’s a lie,” he said. “But I will not step in the gym tomorrow, that’s for sure.”
He said he would start preparing on Saturday for Sunday’s game against Denver. Then the Lakers will have another test on Christmas Day: a rematch with the Clippers, who soundly defeated them at the start of the season.
“It doesn’t get easier,” Vogel said. “That’s all right with us. We want to be pushed, we want to be challenged. That’s the best way to sharpen what we’re doing and really come together.”
Source: Basketball - nytimes.com
