Lakers News: LeBron James Bullish On LA Despite Game 1 Loss

Can the Lakers recover from an up-and-down Game 1 loss?

During a postgame presser, Los Angeles Lakers All-NBA small forward LeBron James offered up an optimistic spin on LA's 132-126 Western Conference Finals Game 1 defeat Tuesday night at the hands of the Denver Nuggets. 

"We'll be better. We know we didn't play up to our capabilities in that first half...we'll be better in Game 2. That's for sure."

LeBron in response to the Lakers' effort in Game 1 pic.twitter.com/Tsl1en4vvJ

— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 17, 2023

"We'll be better," James assured the press, sitting next to co-star Anthony Davis. "We know we didn't play up to our capabilities in that first half. And I even thought in the third quarter when they were making shots [and increased the lead to 21 points], we were going back and forth and making shots, I thought we [were] still in tune, they were just making some shots with hands in their faces, bodies on bodies. But we'll be better in Game 2. That's for sure."

Overall, James submitted a fairly solid game, and looked aggressive on both ends of the floor. That was mitigated somewhat by some strange late-game decision making that wound up costing Los Angeles, though the contest by that point was already slipping away following a ferocious fourth quarter Lakers rally. Across 39:52, the 19-time All-Star scored 26 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field (0-of-4 from deep) and 8-of-11 shooting from the foul line, pulled down 12 rebounds, dished out nine assists and swatted away a block for good measure.

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