MIAMI — Who could blame them?
After landing in Miami and getting settled at their team hotel after 5 a.m. local time following a thrilling win in Houston, the Lakers listed Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and LeBron James as questionable for the second half of their back-to-back set on Thursday against the Miami Heat.
Yes, the Lakers’ torrid run of seven straight wins and 10 in their past 11 games would be at risk without their star trio playing – they lost to the San Antonio Spurs, 136-110, without their three top scorers on Feb. 10 – but a night off to rest could have paid dividends with games against the Orlando Magic and Detroit Pistons still to come in the days ahead. Instead, the Lakers upgraded all three players to active.
Lakers coach JJ Redick referenced a postgame players-only conversation, before the coaches addressed the team after the 124-116 victory over the Rockets, as the catalyst for the trio becoming available for action. Referring to Doncic and James, whose statuses changed before Thursday’s pregame press conference, Redick said the pair went through the proper rest and recovery; plainly, they wanted to play.
“I found out this afternoon that all those guys were talking in the locker room before the coaches came in after the game last night and I think there’s a high level of belief right now and they all want to play,” Redick said of the conversations between him and the players.
When it comes to James, who at 41 years old will tie Robert Parish for the NBA’s career games played record (1,611), Redick said it’s up to the future Hall of Famer to set the terms of if he’s up to playing.
“If he wants to play, he’s going to play,” Redick said of James, who will play in potentially his final game in Miami should he call it quits at the end of this season. James is now in line to break another NBA record on Saturday night in Orlando.
As with many of the opposing coach press conferences this season, it was Miami coach Erik Spoelstra’s turn to speak about what James offered the Heat and the NBA as a whole. James won his first NBA title with Spoelstra in 2012, before repeating as NBA champion in 2013 with the Big Three of James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
Answering a question about James’ 30-point performance on Wednesday, in which he tied his most-efficient shooting night in his career by going 13 for 14 from the field, Spoelstra said he doesn’t just respect James’ ability, but also what he goes through to prepare for games week-by-week.
“You just have to absolutely respect his level of competitive spirit,” Spoelstra said. “He’s competing against not only the entire league, but he’s competing against Father Time and he’s giving Father Time hell. He really is. And you have to respect that. That doesn’t happen by accident.”
Spoelstra mentioned the handful of dunks (six) James had against the Rockets – and offered his all-out sprawl, the fourth-quarter superman dive across the court against the Denver Nuggets last weekend as evidence of James’ competitive fire.
Redick, who has found new ways to answer questions about James’ longevity and durability across the career, found another on Thursday.
“I think his thing is, whatever the quote is,” Redick said. “‘Make sure you make the main thing the main thing’ and he’s made basketball the main thing for a long time.”