MIAMI — LeBron James holds power in the huddle. His words hold an inherent value – now a shared NBA record 1,611 games of experience – lending a wealth of Hall of Fame perspective to the Lakers.
Trailing by double digits the first quarter to the Miami Heat on Thursday night as the team’s seven game winning streak hung in the balance, Lakers coach JJ Redick expressed the reality of the Lakers’ back-to-back situation to the team during a timeout. They were playing fewer than 24 hours after tipping off in Houston on Wednesday night. The Lakers lost an hour on their way to the East Coast during their redeye flight to Miami, arriving at their hotel at around 5 a.m.
Disjointed or error-prone basketball could be forgiven on a night like Thursday – and Redick started with a perceived truth as he attempted to rally the troops during an early-game timeout
“I know y’all are tired,” Redick said, according to guard Austin Reaves, who shared the internal dynamics of a Lakers huddle after the game Thursday night.
“I’m not tired,” James fired back.
James had every excuse to not play. A little more than a week ago, he was returning from contusions to his left hip and left elbow, along with occasionally sitting out due to lingering effects of his left foot arthritis. He missed the start of the season with sciatica.
James is also 41. If James says he’s suiting up for the game – the catalyst for Reaves playing Thursday despite a right forearm contusion: “I can’t let a 41-year-old play and I not play, so signed up to play and so do did Luka (Doncic)” – then the rest of the Lakers follow suit.
“I was like, ‘I’m not tired either,’” Reaves recalled. “Follow the leader; that goes along with the belief that we’re talking about.”
Reaves continued: “It’s a beautiful thing to have (James) as one of the leaders of this team, because there’s anybody in the world that could take games off, mentally not be there in a film session, practice, whatever it might be, it could be him, and that’s not how he’s wired. So, yeah, I think he’s insane.”
In a game in which if the Lakers (45-25) did roll over, and all would have likely been forgiven considering the circumstances, the Lakers made their foes appear like the team fighting through little sleep amid a supposedly grueling road trip. The Lakers’ respective belief, not only in each other but the roles they’re filling night by night, created an eighth consecutive victory, 134-126, heading into Saturday night’s game against the Orlando Magic (38-31).
Doncic came through with his third-career 60-point game, his first as a Laker. Last week, the Slovenian star scored 51 against the Chicago Bulls.
“He’s been fantastic, and I think he’s one of the best and should be in the MVP conversation,” Redick said.
James recorded a triple-double, again one-upping his eldest-player-to-do-so record; a performance that made Redick call James a “psycho” in the wake of it. Midgame adjustments turned the Heat inside out, leading to a dominant third-quarter display that all but placed the game out of grasp.
That morning, Redick awaited reports on the availability statuses of James, Doncic, Reaves and guard Marcus Smart from Leroy Sims, the Lakers’ director of player performance and health, after all four Lakers played at least 34 minutes against the Rockets on Wednesday.
“You’re a little groggy and kind of waiting on that text from Dr. Sims like what’s the early status of our players,” Redick said. “Go through the day, here are some promising things.”
Most of the basketball world assumed the absences of at least a few vital Lakers, a pre-scheduled loss on the schedule. But when there’s a will there’s a way – and the Lakers, Redick said, had their stars will their team to another victory Thursday.
“The four of them were all playing and that to me, I always talk about different ways you can lead, that’s leadership right there,” Redick added. “I think LeBron, just in the same way that Luka willed it for us tonight, LeBron willed it for us tonight.”
Lakers at Orlando
When: 4 p.m. PT Saturday
Where: Kia Center, Orlando
TV/radio: Spectrum Sportsnet/ESPN LA 710