These are choppy, relatively uncharted waters for , and he doesn’t like them, not one little bit.
On Saturday, the lost, 128-115, to the Pelicans, who were playing without Anthony Davis, in New Orleans, a loss that marked the first time since his second year in the league in 2004-05 that a team led by James has dipped below .500 at this point of the season.
“Everyone’s so accustomed to the losses that I’m just not accustomed to,” James said after the Lakers dropped to 29-30. “I’m not accustomed to it. I’d never get comfortable with losing. Losing Game One (the home opener) to Houston, it feels the same way as losing game 59 in New Orleans, for me. That’s just how I’m built. That’s who I am.”
Cultural change isn’t instant, and James asked, “How do you know what’s at stake if you’ve never been there before?”
“It’s how you approach the game every day,” James said in a video posted by Spectrum SportsNet. “It’s how you think the game every day. It’s how you play the game. It’s how you prepare for the game, and that’s not even like, when you get to the arena. That’s like way before that.
“Basketball – is that the most important thing? Why we doing this? Is this the most important thing in your life at this time?” James said in the video. “… If you feel you gave it all (in that game), then you have nothing to look back on. You can go on and do other things. But if you feel like you’re not giving as much as you can, then you can’t focus on anything else.”
The Lakers are 4-6 over their past 10 games and James stressed that there has to be a “sense of urgency from the jump” for the team, which is in 10th place in the Western Conference.
