In NBA season of ‘nothing is normal,’ Lebron’s play is
Lakers forward always steps up play at playoff time
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Lebron James keeps hearing the same questions. How’s it going? How’s the bubble?
He now has a one-size-fits-all answer. “I just say it’s 2020,” James said. “Nothing is normal in 2020.”
That’s not entirely true. The NBA is a few weeks from playoff mode, and James — just like normal — has himself and the Los Angeles Lakers squarely in the mix to compete for a championship. It is a rare bit of normalcy for a player who appeared in eight consecutive NBA Finals from 2011 through and including 2018, and for a franchise that has won 16 championships.
Everything else about this year has been most abnormal. A pandemic suspended play. David Stern, the NBA’S commissioner emeritus, died. Kobe Bryant, who was the third-leading scorer in NBA history until James passed him on Jan. 25, died in a helicopter crash the following day. And now James, the Lakers and 21 other teams are at Walt Disney World, separated from the rest of the world, trying to salvage a season and decide a champion.
Lakers coach Frank Vogel has seen playoff-season James three times before — never liking how those experiences went. Vogel was coaching Indiana and his three best seasons there saw the Pacers matched up with James and the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Heat in six in 2012. Heat in seven in 2013. Heat in six in 2014.
This time, Vogel is genuinely and understandably eager to see James at playoff time.
“Obviously, it’s been great having Lebron on our side after years of going against him,” Vogel said. “But in particular, when we get to the playoff environment, I’ve just seen how he is this year in some of the bigger regular-season games, how he’s more mentally locked in, more vocal, more making sure everybody else is locked in. And I anticipate that come playoff time, we’ll see that all being done at an enhanced level.”
James will have a big say in whether the Lakers win that title. By the time the season resumes July 30, the ballots will be cast to determine whether he or Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo — the two front-runners — wins the NBA MVP award. James is almost mathematically assured of winning his first assist title; he cannot be caught by second-place Trae Young of Atlanta no matter what happens at Disney. And the Lakers, barring all-out collapse, will be the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.