The Lakers continued to miss 3s, Russell Westbrook missed two key late-game shots and Los Angeles blew an eight-point fourth-quarter lead against Damian Lillard, Jeremi Grant and the trailblazers.
“I feel like this is an interview of trying to set me up to say something. I can tell that you guys are in the whole ‘category’ right now,” James said three questions into his postgame news conference. “I don’t like to lose. I hate to lose at anything. I don’t care what happens throughout the course of my season or throughout the course of my career, I hate to lose. And especially the way we had this game. But give credit to Portland.
But no matter the pull James has in and around the NBA, even he can’t stop this — a messy situation between Westbrook and the Lakers only getting messier Sunday in aTwo Westbrook missed shots in the final four minutes — an open three-pointer and a pull-up jumper with 18 seconds on the shot clock and 30.
But whether it’s his airballed threes or his missed layups or bad turnovers, the mistakes are just so glaring and they’re compounding day over day making things even tougher on him and the team. With and without Westbrook, the Lakers have defended at a high level through most of their first three games, taking on the tough-minded persona that earned Ham a career as a player in the league.
Postgame, his words were totally flat, devoid of explanation and with each scarcely spoken word wrapped in frustration. And try as James might to extinguish the fire by trying to ignore the flames, they’re burning hotter than ever around the Lakers and Westbrook, a situation looking more and more impossible.