MEMPHIS, Tenn. — LeBron James had a message for his teammates after the Lakers’ final practice before opening their first-round playoff series Sunday afternoon against the Memphis Grizzlies. It wasn’t about novel approaches to strategy or possible adjustments or anything sophisticated.
“Just go out and have fun,” James said Saturday. “Go out and hoop.”
After playing 82 regular-season games and one more in the play-in tournament, the Lakers weren’t in a mood to overthink where they’ve been or how they got from a 2-10 record to open the season to a 10-2 closing mark to get to this point. They’re here and that’s all that really matters.
“We’ve just got to go out and play free,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said, expanding on James’ post-practice thoughts. “We’ve got our strategies, and our adjustments, our initial coverages, and so on and so forth, but at the end of the day, you’ve just got to go out and hoop.
“It’s a beautiful time to be a part of NBA basketball. The postseason. Everyone doesn’t get a chance to do this. Everyone doesn’t get to participate in it. And those guys coming in for the first time and with limited experience or no experience, you’ve just got to remember who you are as a player and who we are as a team, and just go out and put your best foot forward.”
The Lakers stressed the notion that the regular-season records and the seedings don’t matter. Everyone is starting fresh – whether seventh-seeded, as the Lakers are, or second-seeded, as the Grizzlies are. The games are up for grabs, and it’s up to the Lakers to take full advantage, starting Sunday.
If the Lakers developed a bit of a swagger during their sizzling end to the regular season, it was difficult to tell Saturday. They spoke in reserved tones, calmly, confidently laying out some but certainly not all of their plans for the Grizzlies, a team they defeated in two of three regular-season games.
There’s been a slow buildup to their…
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