SACRAMENTO — There was a framed photo resting on the floor next to LeBron James’ locker when he arrived on Sunday. The anniversary gift from the Los Angeles Lakers showed James, as an 18-year-old rookie, skying in for a right-handed hammer dunk during his NBA debut 20 years ago against the Sacramento Kings.
James managed to turn back the clock two decades later for a nearly identical breakaway slam late in the Lakers’ 132-127 overtime loss to the Kings.
“It’s pretty special I’m still doing it and I’m playing the game that I love,” James said. “To have a breakaway … some pretty cool correlation, for sure.”
The Lakers included a bottle of wine as part of the gesture — a 2003 vintage, naturally, of Celler Vall Llach.
However, if James planned to open it and pour a few glasses on the flight back to L.A., it wouldn’t be to drown his sorrows after the Kings defeat dropped the Lakers to 1-2 on the season.
“I like the way [we played],” James said after L.A. came back to force the extra session after trailing by as many as 15. “We had some moments tonight. We had some really good moments tonight. We just weren’t able to pull it out the way we would have liked to.”
James’ night wasn’t perfect by any means. Two of his game-high eight turnovers came in overtime. Big picture, however, the fact that he put up 27 points on 11-for-19 shooting, 15 rebounds and 8 assists playing in the 1,424th regular season game of his career — similar, if not better numbers, than the 25 points on 12-for-20 shooting, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, 4 steals and 2 turnovers he registered in Game No. 1 — provides plenty to be encouraged about when considering the Lakers’ chances with James leading them this season.
Lakers coach Darvin Ham, who saw his team stumble out of the gates to a 2-10 start last season, was similarly optimistic.
“We did a lot of great things out there tonight,” Ham said after James and Anthony Davis (30 points, 16 rebounds) became the first Lakers teammates since Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal in 2002 to go for 25 points and 15 boards in the same game. “Definitely, some things we need to work on. Some things I need to tighten up.”
When asked to elaborate, Ham pointed to his responsibility to iron out his rotation sooner than later.
“My rotation, we got to really dig into that,” Ham said. “Really take a close look and so guys are in rhythm. We have a great collection of players. And I played in this league. When you know when you’re going in and who you’re playing with, that matters. So buckling down on our rotation, I’ll start there. That definitely is the main thing that’s on my mind.”
Davis protected his coach, reasoning that Ham has had to juggle the absence of Jarred Vanderbilt, a starter on last year’s team, because of bursitis in his left heel, while also starting to integrate Gabe Vincent after the free agent acquisition missed a chunk of the preseason with lower back tightness.
Plus, no rotation adjustment could help the fact that Austin Reaves (1-for-12) suffered through one of the worst shooting nights of his career. Or change the outcome of overtime when the Kings shot 3-for-7 from 3 while the Lakers went 1-for-4 from deep, swinging the game’s direction.
“I think we’re in a good rhythm collectively,” Davis said. “I don’t think that’s much of an issue. … It’ll come. We just got to continue to fight like we did tonight. Obviously, we wanted to win, but got another one tomorrow. Just put it all together, keep pushing, and it’ll turn for us.”
Perhaps adding some urgency to Ham’s remarks was the fact that he blew through the team’s minutes guideline for James, playing him 39 minutes in the loss, with the second night of a back-to-back on the schedule for Monday back home against the Orlando Magic.
“Obviously, I don’t want to run Bron into the ground,” Ham said. “I don’t want to run [Davis] into the ground too early. Obviously, it was an overtime game tonight and they’re playing at a high level, so you want to leave them out there. But just having that balance.”
