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LOS ANGELES – When LeBron James lost his pre-game life watching his former Cleveland Cavaliers team play on the flat screen TV in front of his new locker in the renovated Los Angeles Lakers locker room, close to 10 cameras just recorded it sitting there. .
Later, when James entered the Staples Center floor for his first warm-up of the local team, the Lakers side was surrounded by a wall of camcorders and reporters lined up along the baseline and corners to capture James. every movement.
On Tuesday night, James made his home debut at Staples Center as the Los Angeles Laker, which seemed far from a pre-season game against the Denver Nuggets. Los Angeles fans have done something that they do not usually do: they arrived early to see the biggest superstar to have worn the Lakers uniform since Kobe Bryant. Even in the renovated Lakers locker room, James' stand is virtually at the location of the Bryant Locker.
The Lakers renovated the locker room with the new LeBron locker essentially at the location of the Kobe locker. pic.twitter.com/NfXTt8KMI3
– Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) October 3, 2018
On the outside of the Staples Center, a Nike ad from James Dunking ran alongside a nearby building. Inside, a buzz could be heard and felt through the arena when James did something as simple as bringing the ball back to the field.
He tried to give a quick show to his fans by throwing a pass into the uninspired hallway of Rajon Rondo in the corner, but the Lakers did not score on ball possession. James also attempted a one-handed lob against JaVale McGee in transition for a dunk, but McGee caught the ball as his momentum swept past the basket.
James scored his first basket in his new arena at home on a shot from the bank with 6:43 to play in the first quarter. And he drew the crowd's attention by sending a full pass to Josh Hart for a point before deflecting a pass that started a quick break as Brandon Ingram finished with a score.
The crowd finally had its first big scoring moment with James when he threw a powerful dunk in transition with 3:17 to play in the first quarter.
James must have felt the energy of Staples. He admitted to having felt enthusiasm in San Diego when the Lakers made their pre-season debut against Denver on Sunday, as he later noted on his Instagram page while writing the caption "I do not can not even be ahead, it's different! Goosebumps! " for a photo of him in a Lakers uniform for the first time in a match.
During the Lakers' morning shootout before their second pre-season game, James said about playing in Staples for the first time as Laker: "It's a fresh start, a fresh start, it's a good thing. Is a new enthusiasm for me. "
The star striker echoed fans' sentiments after seeing the franchise not participate in the playoffs since 2013.
Just do not mention the word "playoffs" around Luke Walton in October. Before the game began, the Lakers head coach had been informed of the team's composition, thinking about the playoffs for the first time in a long time and how veterans could help. once the team eliminated.
"Once we get to what? The playoffs? You want me to talk about that? No chance ,? Walton said. "We're so far from the playoffs, we're not talking about the playoffs at all, we're just talking about what we have to do now and the habits we have to adopt, we need to create, have a chance to be successful at the end of the year ".
While the fans seem breathless for everything James does on the field, the star preaches with patience, which he has already mentioned several times during the pre-season.
"All of us [have to have patience]"I think we are a new group, we are not at the same level as many teams in cohesion and chemistry, so every day is another opportunity for us to improve and not take a step back."
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