Tuesday 18 August 2020 13:33, UK
LeBron James is taking nothing for granted when his No 1 seeded Los Angeles Lakers take on the eighth-seeded Portland Trail Blazers in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
A No 8 seed has beaten a No 1 seed just five times in NBA history with the last such occurrence in 2012 - when the Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Chicago Bulls - who had lost Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah to injury.
James has no intention of allowing Portland to add the 2019-20 Lakers to that list and is fully aware of the offensive threat the Trail Blazers possess, led by their elite scoring guards Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum.
"I don't take anything for granted, especially being in the NBA on my 17th season," James said. "I don't go into any season saying, 'okay, playoffs, playoffs, championship, championship'. I am all about the process.
"(Lillard and McCollum) are the rock of that franchise. They have been there. They have seen it all. They have playoff experience. They have chemistry between the two of them. And we have to have 10 eyes on them at a time. You got two eyes on the guy on the ball and another eight to go after every possession because they are that dangerous. It starts with them.
"And then they have a Hall of Famer, in Carmelo Anthony, who can erupt at any point of the game. So you have to always keep an eye on him. Have that respect factor because you know what he is capable of doing. And I believe (Jusuf) Nurkic and Zach (Collins) coming back from injury has helped them out a lot as well."
James described preparing for a playoff campaign inside the NBA's bubble as 'the toughest one' of his career.
"I go in with the mindset of always preparing myself mentally, physically, spiritually to be able to encounter anything that happens," he said.
"I don't know what is different for me in this environment. As far as me locking in on opponents and individuals, it hasn't changed. What is different is the environment. I'm not home, not with my family. Not in my own bed. I'm not in my home. I'm not in our practice facility. I'm not preparing to be at Staples (Center) tomorrow with our fans. A lot of things that are essential to my everyday regimen.
"That's what's different. As far as mentally, that's always gonna be sharp."
On Monday, James added his signature to an open letter written by More Than A Vote, a coalition of black athletes and artists whose mission is to "educate, energize and protect" black voters.
The coalition partnered with the Los Angeles Dodgers to use Dodger Stadium as a vote center for the presidential election in November and is aiming get more arenas and sports facilities in use.
Speaking about the campaign, James said: "We are serious. So serious about what's going on in America, about our communities. About our voters' expression, about just the lack of knowledge, the lack of people who care for them.
"We put a team together to be able to give our communities the resources to let them understand what their rights are.
"There are a lot of people who grew up in the inner city, (who) are afraid to vote because of previous convictions or something that has happened in their life. And they have been lied to for so many years (about) why they can't vote or they don't believe that their vote counts. So they don't even go.
"We want change. We asked for change in our communities. We want the people in our communities to know if we want change, we have to make it ourselves."
