Los Angeles Lakers start a tougher schedule against Dallas Mavericks, 3 Lessons

The Los Angeles Lakers lost but LeBron James showed something he hasn’t shown since he got to L.A.!

LeBron James showed something that fans haven’t seen in his time in purple and gold. He is showing that he really wants to win the NBA title this year. There is an urgency and if there are some stragglers that still don’t believe, mark this moment down as a defining moment.

This was the play before LeBron James exploded on his teammates. To be clear, this is not a good thing. IT’S A GREAT THING! Where was this dude last year?

James looks like he has figured out the dynamics of the power structure within the organization. Something that was not the case last year. He realizes that AD is the engine that will make the team go. But for this team to make it through a tough Western Conference, he has to be a real leader and not just the highest player on the team.

He set the tone early for the Lakers with a stat line of six points, five assists, two rebounds and three steals. The overall performance of the team was not his fault.

LeBron flirted with his own triple-double scoring 25 points, grabbing nine rebounds and collecting eight assists. For most of the game, he looked like he was the only one that cared, playing on both sides of the floor.

But he had his own issues too. Six turnovers are not going to help the cause over the tough road trip this week. There have been games that turnovers have been a premium. He has to clean this up.

After the Lakers went through the awful stretch in the 3rd quarter, the bad body language LeBron came back. There were instances where he threw his hands up with disgust and did not get back on defense.

Look, most can’t blame him for being irritated (The team really was that bad!) but it can’t show on the court. He’s got to take the good with the bad, the bitter with the sweet and the ups with the downs.

If you can party with the wins, you have to stay and clean up after the losses. Tired of clichés? Cool, let’s move on.