“We damn sure need to play better” – LeBron James wants the LA Lakers to get their act together after they fall to an 8-9 record
LeBron James wants the LA Lakers to get their act together after the purple-and-gold franchise lost their third successive game on Friday night. Although he made his return to the Lakers after an eight-game absence, the 36-year-old could not prevent his team from losing 108-130 to the Boston Celtics.
Play through the contact 😤 https://t.co/sxgVDMk1uf
LeBron James, who had a decent outing in his return game, with 23 points on 10-of-16 (62.5%) shooting, is concerned with the LA Lakers’ 8-9 start from their first 17 games.
When asked if the Lakers could sit back and afford to take a casual approach with 65 games still remaining in the regular season, LeBron James replied in the negative. He said:
“It’s never ‘we got 65 games left.’ We damn sure need to play better, no matter who is in the lineup. We have our system and we need to obviously fast-track it and get better with it so we can play no matter who is on the floor, we can play at a high level… there is no level of panic, but there should be some sense of urgency every time we hit the floor. I felt like we had moments throughout this game tonight we didn’t [have the sense of urgency]. We got to figure how we can keep that sense of urgency for 48 minutes.”
LeBron on if it’s still too early in the season to have urgency:
“It’s never ‘we got 65 games left,’ we damn sure need to play better no matter who is in the lineup."
LeBron James says he likes to stay even-keel
Despite getting blown out on the road by the Boston Celtics, the LA Lakers started off strongly with a 38-point opening quarter that gave them an eight-point lead after the first 12 minutes of the game.
When asked about that dominant start to the game and whether people are reading too much into the Lakers’ losing record compared to what they showed in the first period against Boston, LeBron James said:
“For me, it’s never as bad as it may seem, and it’s never as good as it may feel. I stay even-keel during the whole journey. I understand this is a whole process for us. I’ve always felt comfortable when things are uncomfortable. I look forward to the process of us trying to get better, us getting better not trying. We will get better. We will improve. But us just being uncomfortable. We should be uncomfortable every single day in our film sessions, in our walk throughs, in our practices, anywhere we are on the floor until we right the ship. Until then we should be even more uncomfortable when things start to feel good because, like I said, it’s never as good as it may feel and it’s never as bad as it may seem.”
“Obviously being out two-and-a-half weeks, I just felt kind of like a rookie again after being away from the game.” @KingJames on how he felt in his return and the sense of urgency for the team. https://t.co/Vk5566Emzc
LeBron James and the LA Lakers are now 0-2 to begin their five-game road trip. Their next three games are visits to Detroit, New York and Indiana.
LeBron James will have the opportunity to become the 11th player in NBA history to tally 2000 three-point shots in the game against Detroit on Sunday.