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LeBron James

Will LeBron's Lakers teammates let him down?

LOS ANGELES — Maybe the All-Star break was the turning point for the Los Angeles Lakers. Maybe things will only get better from here. Maybe LeBron James’ newfound focus – his mind is now “activated” for the task of reaching the postseason, he says – will make all the difference. Maybe beating the Houston Rockets and keeping James Harden in check on Thursday night was just the beginning.

“It can give us some momentum that we need,” head coach Luke Walton said. “Or it can do nothing.”

It is easy enough to find evidence to back up all those maybes, and more besides. Even through the least productive stretches of a strange campaign the Lakers have regularly found some kind of sheen to lift the gloom.

However, if “maybe” is to become “yes” and an outside shot at the postseason is to become a confirmed position there, it won’t be because this impending late-season journey simply started well.

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If the Lakers wind up completing a successful surge the top eight in the Western Conference, it will be because somewhere along the line winning becomes a habit, determination becomes a constant, and because effort is distributed evenly, all the time, no matter the status of the opponent. And it would be because James’ young teammates pull through for him when it matters.

“I’m just an all-around basketball player,” James said. “Put me on the floor I am going to make plays offensively and defensively. I sacrifice my body, I sacrifice for my team. I am just all about doing whatever it takes.”

Now he needs those around him to do their part.

Rising to the challenge against the best in the league has rarely been a problem for these Lakers. Meeting the same level of performance against less-credentialed opposition? Well, that has been far more problematic.

It that sense, returning to action after the mid-season hiatus against the Rockets was an ideal situation. Houston are one of the league’s current marquee teams and might pose the best and biggest threat to the rampant Golden State Warriors. James Harden appears to be a virtual lock for league MVP and is on an historic scoring tear. And the game was beamed for the benefit of a national audience, broadcast on TNT.

LeBron James scored 29 points in the Lakers' win against Houston.

The Lakers tend to turn up the dial in such situations, and so it proved, battling back from a 19-point deficit to sink the Rockets 111-106. The franchise’s current crop, headed by James, offer a different kind of Showtime. If the rival on any given night comes with star power, celebrity status and has cameras following their move, Los Angeles generally puts its best food forward.

When that’s not the case it isn’t Showtime, more like Barely-Show-Up-Time. L.A. has had some of its more woeful nights this campaign against the weakest of opposition.

They have beaten each of the nine teams above them in the Western Conference standings, including the Golden State Warriors, at least once.

Yet they have somehow contrived to lose to the Washington Wizards, Memphis Grizzlies, New York Knicks, Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks. Ultimately, James’ record of not missing the postseason since his rookie year will hinge on those kind of games, not the big-ticket occasions where any athlete with a pulse would find it easy to get fired up.

The Lakers will go on the road for five straight games in mid-March, going nearly two weeks without playing a home fixture.

That’s the kind of thing that will be the true test of the mettle. Thursday was a start, but nothing more. It was a start buoyed by the spark of All-Star weekend, where James’ team won the main game and Kyle Kuzma was MVP of the Rising Stars challenge.

But it is one thing to perform on the back off a strong and stirring James pep talk, the “activation” announcement. That was aimed at getting his colleagues’ heads in the game and it worked in the short term, but that same kind of lift will need to be found again and again, even on days when the grind means the last message has worn off and been forgotten and it is time for another.

The test will come on sleep-deprived red-eye flights and amid the rollercoaster of a playoff push. And when the first doubts resurface after a bad night on the court and the young core of the team remember that James was more than happy for them all to be traded so he could be partnered with Anthony Davis, a fellow Klutch Sports client and upcoming guest on his television show.

Not so much on noisy nights at the Staples Center, but on hostile ones in Detroit or even Chicago or New York, where a defeat would feel doubly wasteful.

James’ ability to pull comrades onto his shoulders and produce special outcomes should not be dismissed, but he can’t do it alone, and neither can he force teammates to show fortitude unless they want it for themselves.

The bumpy part of the ride (yes, another one) is approaching for the Lakers, and it will reveal a lot about their character, which in itself will determine the outcome of their playoff quest.

 

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