4C z MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2019 z USA TODAY SPORTS
NBA
LOS ANGELES – The powerful su-
perstar moves like a smooth freight
train when he attacks the basket. He
competes on defense with both his ef-
fort and his words.
LeBron James is still the complete
package.
James, a month from his 35th birth-
day, remains well ahead of Father
Time. So much that he has offered self
deprecation by recently dubbing him-
self “The Washed King.” James joked
that those that doubt his acumen
should “meet me at the cleaners.”
“It’s just my personal motivation,”
he said. “I’m extra motivated to put
myself in a position where I know I be-
long. It’s my personal motivation ev-
ery single night to be on the floor and
be great.”
James could not always do that last
season during his first year with the
Lakers. He missed a combined 27
games after straining his left groin in a
Christmas Day matchup against the
Warriors. He mirrored his career aver-
ages in points (27.4) and shooting per-
centage (51.0) and topping his career
numbers in rebounds (6.5) and assists
(7.4) before and after his injury. Yet
James has admitted he did not ever
feel the same following his ailment.
That only added concern that this
might mark the beginning of many in-
juries James would face in his mid to
late 30s. That usually marks the time
when NBA players do not produce as
they once did.
Therefore, James spent this sum-
mer intent on proving he could both
train properly while also filming
“Space Jam 2.” That required James to
train beginning between 3:30-4 a.m.
before arriving on set at 6:30 a.m. for a
shoot that lasted between 12 to 14
hours a day for three months.
“I know how much I put into my
craft. I know what the main thing is.
Even when I was shooting the movie, I
know what was most important. That
was me getting ready for the fall. I al-
ways had that in the front of my mind.
It’s my personal pressure I’m putting
on myself. I don’t believe in pressure
much. But I believe in myself and know
that I’m capable of.”
What is James capable of? Not
much other than becoming the first
Lakers player in 31 years to log three
consecutive triple doubles since Magic
Johnson. Or completing his 1,000th
career game with at least 20 points.
As Danny Green joked, “He’s old as
hell, huh?” No matter. James joked he
just drinks a lot of wine to ensure lon-
gevity because “it ages well.”
“The guy is incredible. He’s giving it
all to this team and really impacting
both ends of the floor,” Lakers coach
Frank Vogel said. “The biggest impact
probably is how he is setting a tone.
He’s setting a tone for our group with
how hard he is playing on defense,
how willing he is to pass the basketball
offensively, and obviously he’s got the
ability to make big shots in the clutch.”
The Lakers are not just leaning on
James. They are also depending on
Anthony Davis.They are leaning on a
defense that ranks fourth in the NBA in
points allowed and defensive field goal
percentage after holding Miami to a
combined 35% clip and 17.1% mark
from 3-point range Friday. Though the
Lakers shot 8 of 32 from 3 and are 27th
in 3-point shooting (30.8%), they off-
set that with hustle.
The Lakers have excelled in those
areas partly because of James.
“I’ve been impressed with how well
he’s moving. That’s one of the best
qualities I admired about LeBron,”
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “He
puts so much into the game and into
his craft. A large part of that is his body
and physical well being. When you
prepare yourself to play at that level all
night for 82 games and beyond in the
playoffs, that’s a commitment that
most players are not willing to do.
That’s what makes him uncommon.”
It seemed fitting that James faced
the Heat on Friday after winning two
of his three titles there (2010-2014).
Said Spoelstra: “He’s the best player
in the game.”
LeBron
washed up?
‘Meet me
at cleaners’
Mark Medina
USA TODAY
LOS ANGELES – The former team-
mates appear unlikely to exchange
many pleasantries when they cross
paths soon. The reasons have nothing
to do with Kawhi Leonard and the Rap-
tors sharing any misgivings. Leonard
just remains economical with his
words.
Hence, Leonard did not seem nos-
talgic with the Clippers (6-3) hosting
the Raptors (6-2) on Monday at Sta-
ples Center. It has been only five
months since Leonard led Toronto to
an NBA championship. It has been
only four months since Leonard left for
the Clippers as a free agent. And yet ...
“It’s like any other game,” Leonard
said. “It’ll be fun to see the guys again
and congratulate them and be able to
shake hands. Then we’ll compete.”
That mind-set partly explains why
Leonard’s former teammates still re-
spect him. Even if he left a champion-
ship team, the Raptors arguably would
not have won one had they not ac-
quired Leonard the previous offseason
from the Spurs. Leonard collected his
second Finals MVP after averaging
28.5 points on 43.3% shooting along
with 9.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists in
the Raptors’ five-game series win over
the Warriors in the NBA Finals.
His former teammates have not
judged Leonard only on his produc-
tion, though. They respect him for his
work habits, his versatility and sur-
prising vocal leadership. So even if
Danny Green and Marc Gasol were not
entirely sure if Leonard would stay or
go following the Raptors’ title run, they
anticipated and understood his depar-
ture. Why not return to Los Angeles so
he can play for a championship con-
tender and stay close to his hometown
in Moreno Valley?
“When you talk about going back
home to play for his community, I don’t
think that should ever surprise you.
That was a goal of his,” Gasol told USA
TODAY Sports. “You should always
want your teammates to be happy and
be in a good situation. He should un-
derstand from a player standpoint that
we care about him more because of
what we’ve been through. We wanthim to be happy.”
The Lakers had hoped Leonard
would be happy to join them.
Instead, Leonard found the Clippers
more enticing for the focus more on sub-
stance than glitter. He became im-
pressed with the Clippers’ ability to
challenge the Warriors through six
games in the first round of the playoffs.
He liked the Clippers’ stability with their
owner (Steve Ballmer), front office (Lau-
rence Frank, Michael Wallace) and head
coach (Doc Rivers). So Leonard joined
the Clippers, who also acquired Paul
George from Oklahoma City for Shai Gil-
geous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari and a
handful of draft picks. Once Leonard
made his decision, Green joined the
Lakers on a three-year, $32 million deal
fully understanding his former team-
mate’s thought process.
“Everybody knows he wanted to be in
L.A. But it would’ve been more of a sur-
prise if he made a different decision,”
Green told USA TODAY Sports. “I
couldn’t see him trying to team up with
LeBron and AD. I just don’t think that’s
his personality. If he was going to go
back (to Toronto), I think he’d want the
whole team back or have some different
types of pieces move in. But I don’t think
it was a surprise to anybody where he
ended up.”
The Raptors did not seem surprised
either with how Leonard’s season faredwith them. He had already won an NBA
championship and a Finals MVP when
the Spurs unseated the Heat in 2014. To-
ronto traded a franchise cornerstone
(DeMar DeRozan), an emerging center
(Jakob Poeltl) and a 2019 first-round
pick for Leonard and Green. The Raptors
did it without any assurances Leonard
would stay beyond one season.
“I never went in with a negative
mind-set,” Leonard said. “I was always
open-minded.”
Because of that, Leonard soon
formed strong bonds with the Raptors.
After playing only nine games during
his final season with San Antonio be-
cause of complications with his injured
left quad, Leonard and the Raptors out-
lined a “load management program.”
“He looked at the bigger picture,” Ga-
sol said. “November, December and
January – all of those months lead up to
what matters the most in the playoffs
and how far you can get. You want to be
healthy and peaking at that time. So I
completely understand what load man-
agement means.”
Leonard has done almost the same
thing with the Clippers. They have
played seven games, and Leonard has
appeared in five as part of his load man-
agement program. Still, the early re-
turns show Leonard on pace to post ca-
reer highs in points (29), rebounds (8.1)
and assists (5.4).Kawhi and Raptorsmaintain mutual respectMark Medina
USA TODAYKawhi Leonard is averaging 29 points. GARY A. VASQUEZ/USA TODAY SPORTSLOS ANGELES – Eventually, Paul
George’s ritual became a running joke.
Occasionally, George performed his
habit in secret.
As he remained confined to non-
contact drills while healing his surgi-
cally repaired left and right shoulders,
George often mused he would join his
Clippers teammates in a scrimmage.
Coach Doc Rivers often noticed George
sneaking in for a possession after
turning his back. This became a con-
stant theme for a simple reason.
“I’m tired of rehabbing,” George
said. “It sucks.”
He won’t have to rehab much longer.
Rivers considered it a “possibility”
George makes his debut Monday
against the Raptors. Even if Rivers still
harbored doubts about that timeline,
the Clippers expect George to return
soon. Perhaps that happens when they
play in Houston (Wednesday) or New
Orleans (Thursday).
That uncertainty pales to the frus-
tration George weathered after having
offseason surgery on both shoulders
shortly after the Thunder lost to the
Trail Blazers in the first round of the
NBA playoffs. Even when he became
frustrated enough with a lengthy re-
hab to want to sneak onto the court,
however, George continuously re-
minded himself about the value of
staying patient.
“I’m here for the long run and here
for the long haul. I know what the big
picture is,” George said. “Obviously it’s
for my own good that I wasn’t in those
things early.”
George has gleaned that perspec-
tive in three ways.One, George already has dealt with a
debilitating injury. He fractured his
right leg during an intrasquad scrim-
mage with Team USA before the 2014 FI-
BA World Championships. That injury
kept George out for all but the final eight
games of the 2014-15 NBA season with
the Pacers.
Secondly, George has otherwise en-
joyed living near his Palmdale home-
town with close family and friends. He
has experienced a much more pleasant
climate than what he became used to in
Indiana (2010-17) and Oklahoma City
(2017-19).
“Walking outside and it’s 70 or 80 de-
grees, I haven’t been used to that in a
very long time,” George said. “So it’s
amazing. The weather is amazing. I can
go to the beach and take my kids out.”
Lastly, George has a proved he can
adapt his game. He eventually became
the Pacers’ go-to scorer through his first
seven NBA seasons. He averaged a ca-
reer-high 28 points last season in Okla-
homa City even while sharing a work-
load with a ball-dominant Russell West-
brook. It would appear the Clippersshould automatically improve by add-
ing a six-time All-Star, a career 37.8% 3-
point shooter and a four-time member
of the NBA’s All-Defensive teams.
“I take pride in being on the court and
being a ballplayer,” George said. “In-
stincts take over. I’m not really defining
myself by my position. I just love to hoop
and love to play the game.”
No wonder then that George treated
his first “live action” during Saturday’s
practice with the same infectious ener-
gy as if he were opening a birthday pre-
sent.
Rivers noted that George became up-
set his team lost in the first scrimmage.
That contributed to the Clippers’ re-
serves winning in the second matchup.
George became intent on guarding Ka-
whi Leonard whenever possible. When
the Clippers had trouble running sets
that Rivers had designed for him,
George demonstrated how to execute
them correctly. Rivers observed that
George’s “basketball IQ is extremely
high on both ends.”
“It was probably a good lesson for
coaches, too, because the guy who runs
their play knows their play,” Rivers said.
“All of a sudden, he’s starting to do it and
then the guy on the other team starts
doing it because he actually saw the guy
do it at real speed. So those are the
things that he helps.”
George will help in plenty of other
ways, too.
With the Clippers ranked 20th in 3-
point shooting (33.8%), George will like-
ly improve those numbers and give his
teammates some added floor spacing.
Rivers plans to start George and Leon-
ard interchangeably at small forward
and power forward, while keeping op-
tions open with having a small or big
lineup.George ‘tired of rehabbing’Mark Medina
USA TODAYPaul George could make his Clippers
debut this week. HARRY HOW/GETTY IMAGES