CLEVE-LAND —
LeBron James listed off the challenges the Lakers have faced during the season: the injuries, the COVID absences and the frustrations that come with a sub-.500 season.
He called it “physically, and emotionally draining at times.”
Yet as he made his first media appearance at All-Star weekend, James made one thing clear — he wants to get the Lakers into the postseason, and that he believes that this group needs just one thing.
“If I can get our groups in the game, all we can ask for is a chance,” James said.
The Lakers will be without Anthony Davis for at least the next four weeks, their place in the Western Conference standings on shaky ground. They have a 2 1/2-game lead on Portland, the current 10th-place team. They’re 4 1/2 games ahead of San Antonio and New Orleans, who are chasing the final play-in spot.
If there’s a reason to believe in the Lakers’ chances to make the playoffs, it’s been James, who is in one of the best offensive grooves of the season. He’s scored at least 25 points in 23 straight games, a stretch during which he’s averaging 31.7 points.
“I do not know. I can’t [explain it],” James said. “Just in a groove I guess.”
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