With 25 games remaining in the 2018-19 NBA season, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are focused on making their final playoff push in the Western Conference.
At 28-29, the Lakers are currently three games behind the Los Angeles Clippers for the eighth and final playoff spot and the odds are certainly not in their favor.
While the Clippers traded Tobias Harris to the Philadelphia 76ers, the Sacramento King traded for Harrison Barnes to make a playoff push of their own.
As James has not missed the playoffs since the 2004-05 season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he has a different mindset for the remainder of the season.
“It’s going to be a little different for me now just knowing the position that we’re in. For me personally, I haven’t been in this position in a while but because of my injury, it hit our team. Obviously, we would love to have success while I was out, but we didn’t,” James said after Wednesday’s practice.
“I’m going to be a little bit different. It’s a little bit earlier than I would like to be in previous years.”
Although James returned for six of the team’s last seven games, he is still making progress following his groin strain injury that forced him to miss 17 consecutive games.
“I’m rounding third base, sliding into home. How I felt before the injury. I’m sliding in clean, too,” James said in reference to Los Angeles Dodgers Spring Training starting on Feb. 23.
As James is close to 100 percent, he jokingly brought up a recent report that stated he gained 30 pounds from his listed weight.
“I feel pretty good even at 280 pounds.”
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