Los Angeles Lakers: 3 reasons Lakers of today bring back authentic emotions

Progression and Continuity

The three losses the Lakers took this season were at the hands of playoff teams from last year: the Portland Trailblazers, the Houston Rockets, and the San Antonio Spurs.

For the most part, each of those teams brought back the same roster and experience with each other, save for the Spurs’ addition of DeMar DeRozan. The Lakers, who have turned over a chunk of their roster from last year, were able to be competitive in each game, despite having less experience together as a team.

James previously has had slow starts to the regular season, going 9-8 and 19-20 in his first year with the Miami Heat and in his first year returning to Cleveland, respectively. Both teams made it to the NBA Finals at the end of the year. LeBron knows the NBA schedule is long and understands that progression needs to happen throughout the course of an 82-game season.

"“It’s all about the end game. I want what’s best for this team and it takes going through some ups and downs. I know what I signed up for…I’m up for the task.”"

James’ frustrations about not winning the game are something I, along with the rest of Lakers fans, feel about Monday night’s loss. There are a ton of major flaws with the Lakers’ game; a lack of defensive effort, shooting woes, and a habit of putting opponents on the charity stripe, amongst others.

But we did see flashes of what Luke Walton and Magic Johnson want to implement — increased pace and with that came the “Showtime-like” assists by LeBron, a dazzling display of shooting from Kuzma (including an all too familiar jump-hook), Lonzo hitting from deep, and Hart’s rise in confidence and aggressiveness as a finisher.

Monday night’s game brought me back to a familiar time, as I embraced the chilling goosebumps that layered on my skin as James knocked down a cold-blooded 3-pointer — at Kobe range — to tie the game near the end of regulation.

This moment — not a Woj-bomb, not a Magic Johnson/Rob Pelinka presser, not the LA sports radio sweepers, not Media Day, not the preseason, and not even the billboards and posters that flood the downtown area — was when I actually felt like LeBron James had arrived.

The emotion of James’ 3-pointer and the momentum built in overtime, including an effort-fueled possession that led to a LeBron and-1, was something Lakers fans fantasized about feeling — a sequence punctuated with James firing air-pistols to the Staples Center crowd.

The scene felt odd, exhilarating, wild, and most of all, fun — until the Lakers blew a six-point lead, with LeBron missing a pair of free throws and a potential game winner (from a spot he was won games in the past), in what would have been an exclamation point on James’ first win as a Laker and the Lakers first win of the season.

The polarizing details of the game echo what LeBron has said on how he imagines this season playing out.

"“…it takes going through some ups and downs. I know what I signed for. This was all expected. I’m up for the task.”"

The frustrations and the momentary feeling of being left empty handed after what transpired over the course of the game Monday night quickly went away. For me, the realization of, once again, being able to witness greatness on any given night and watching the Lakers play in meaningful games has fully been solidified and restored into the overall Lakers viewing experience.

LeBron and the Lakers will get another crack at it, on a ho-hum Wednesday night, in Phoenix.

Get the pizza and hot wings ready.