NBA FINALS: LAKERS VS. HEAT

September 30, 2020

LeBron James

Los Angeles Lakers

Game 1: Postgame

Los Angeles Lakers 116, Miami Heat 98

Q. You guys went on a 75-30 run after falling down 13 early. What allows you guys to have success like that over a sustained period of time, a run like that?

LeBRON JAMES: Paying attention to detail. I don't think in the beginning that we were physical enough. You have to get a feel for how hard Miami plays. I think they smacked us in the mouth, and we got a sense of that. And so we knew how hard we had to play if we wanted to try to make it a game.

You know, from that moment when it was 23-10, we started to play to our capabilities. We started flying around. We started getting defensive stops. We started sharing the ball a lot better offensively and just got into a really good groove.

Q. For AD, obviously his first Finals game. What did you see about his preparation? Was there any advice you gave him, and to see him perform like that, what do you feel about that?

LeBRON JAMES: I don't feel anything. I expect it out of him. Didn't need to give him no advice. We've been preparing for this moment all season. He's been preparing for this moment all season. I'm happy to be on the same floor with him and in the same uniform. He was, once again, a force in every facet of the game, offensively and defensively.

Q. You've felt the buzz of the NBA Finals nine times in your career, but what was it like today with nobody there, the sound? I know you're used to bubble basketball at this point, but at this stage what did it feel like to play a Finals game?

LeBRON JAMES: Felt great. Felt great. I've been preparing for this moment for quite a while. Fans, no fans, the inner challenge for myself and the way I prepare myself, it felt amazing to be playing in the Finals once again.

Q. You've seen plenty of times over the years where if one team has a bunch of injuries, the other team floats a little bit and doesn't come at them as hard. How do you make sure that you guys don't do that in Game 2?

LeBRON JAMES: We've got so much more work to do. The job is not done. We're not satisfied with winning one game. It's that simple.

Q. There was a few times where you guys got up big, and there was a lot of celebrating going on, and I see sometimes you had to rein it in a little bit. In your experience, what have you seen in the past that got you to the point where you felt like sometimes you need to say, okay, let's keep it on task?

LeBRON JAMES: The best teacher in life is experience. I've experienced moments in my career where you have all the momentum in the world and you felt like you had the game under control, and one play here or one play there could change the course of a series or change the course of a game.

One in particular that always rings home for me is Game 2 of the 2011 Finals in Miami versus Dallas. D-Wade hits a three right by their bench. I believe it put us up either 13 or 17. From that moment on, Dallas went on a hell of a run and finished it off with a Dirk Nowitzki left-hand layup to steal that game. That (expletive) burns me to this day.

I always talk about the best teacher in life is experience, and I've experienced a lot. That's what prompts me to be who I am today, is being able to have those experiences.

Q. I'm wondering in a game like this when you had the kind of lead that you had, are you already thinking, "This is what we could do better, here are some things that we're doing wrong." Were you already in that frame of mind during this game?

LeBRON JAMES: Yeah, absolutely. I think you can learn so much more from a win than you can in a loss. I can't wait for tomorrow for us to get back together and watch the film and see ways we can be better and see some of the breakdowns that we had, especially in that fourth quarter, especially in that first six minutes of the first quarter where we can be so much better defensively and also so much better offensively.

So I can't wait. I'm extremely amped up about watching the film with our ballclub tomorrow. I'm going to watch some tonight obviously by myself, but I'm looking forward to getting together as a group tomorrow.

Q. Teams have spent your whole career trying to keep you out of the paint, and you can say the same thing this season about AD. What are some of the ways that you guys are still always seemingly able to get to the rim and still able to finish?

LeBRON JAMES: Because we have great spacing and great shooters. KCP, Danny Green, Kyle Kuzma and Markieff Morris, a list of guys that can spread the floor, it allows myself and AD to be able to do the things that we do in the interior.

We try to mix up our game, too. We try to mix it in in the interior and the exterior. But when you have guys that could space the floor like we have, it allows us to do some of the things that we do in the paint.

Q. Why is Rondo so opposed to being called Playoff Rondo, and did you see some of that in the first half especially?

LeBRON JAMES: I'm not sure. I've never called him that. We've never called him that. We only call him Do. So that would be a Do question.

But you know, just having him in this moment, having him on our side, and I think he mentioned yesterday or whenever Media Day was for the Finals, you just don't -- you never know. You don't get these moments a lot. It's been over a decade since he's been in the Finals. I think he's just cherishing the moment, but also just playing the game that he loves to play -- the cerebral way, the determined way, the championship way, as he's been playing for quite a while now.