ORLANDO – LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers begin the final challenge in their bid to return to the summit of basketball on Wednesday when they take on the Miami Heat team in game one of the NBA Finals.
The Lakers, who will be chasing a 17th NBA championship against Miami in the finals, were one of two teams who reportedly voted to abandon the season altogether on August 26 following the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha.
That walkout threat was only headed off by the intervention of former President Barack Obama, who reportedly counselled James and other players against a season-ending boycott.
- LeBron determined -
A little over one month later, and the 35-year-old James is now girding himself for a 10th appearance in an NBA Finals, a tally bettered by only two players in the history of the league.
It also marks the vindication of James’ decision in 2018 to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Lakers, a faded superpower of the NBA who was floundering before his arrival two years ago.
Although James’ first season in Los Angeles ended in disappointment, with injury restricting his appearances and the team once again failing to make the playoffs, the bolstering of the squad with Anthony Davis last year, who has formed a superb partnership with James, returned the team to dominance.
“This is what I came here for,” James said on Saturday after the Lakers defeated the Denver Nuggets to clinch the Western Conference championship and book a place in the finals.
“I heard all the conversations and everything that was said about why did I decide to come to LA (that) the reason I came to LA, it was not about basketball.”
“All those conversations, just naysayers and things of that nature. I understood that, with the season I had last year and my injury, it just gave them more sticks and more wood to throw in the fire to continue to say the things that they would say about me.”
“But it never stopped my journey and never stopped my mindset and never stopped my goal.”
- Neutralizing James-
The Heat has excelled through the playoffs with Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic outstanding, routing the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks 4-1 in the Eastern Conference semi-finals before accounting for the Boston Celtics 4-2.
Butler, who joined Miami in 2019 from the Philadelphia 76ers, says the team must neutralise James to have any chance against the Lakers.
“The main key and it’s been like this for a very long time, if you want to win, you’re going to have to go through a LeBron James-led team,” Butler said.
“At the end of the day, that’s what it normally comes down to.”
“That’s what we got to focus in on. Obviously you can’t focus in on him because he has so many really good players around him, but you’re going to get the same test over and over again until you pass, and that test is LeBron James.”
“We’re just going to have to play hard. We’re going to have to play damn near perfect because they are such a good team. They do so many things well. Obviously you know the star power that they have.” – AFP, September 29, 2020
