Lakers News: LeBron's Approach to Finals vs. Heat, Bubble Life and More

LeBron James and the Los Angles Lakers start their NBA Finals journey from the bubble in Orlando, Florida, on Wednesday night at 9 p.m. ET on ABC, somewhat poetically encountering the Miami Heat out of the Eastern Conference. 

"Journey" is an apt word when discussing James, of course. He's through to the Finals for the 10th time, and this time is especially meaningful considering he's playing against the Heat, a team he won two titles with after making the league-reshaping decision all those years ago. 

Just don't tell James it's poetic or more important than usual. 

"It's no extra meaning to winning a championship, no matter who you're playing against," James said Tuesday, per ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "It's already hard enough to even reach the Finals, to be in this position. If you're able to become victorious out of the Finals, it doesn't matter who it's against."

It's a comment likely met with an eye-of-the-beholder reaction for many onlookers, especially those who know James. He joined the Heat, and his first title win featured him taking down Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden, then his second featured him outlasting legends like Tim Duncan and Tony Parker. 

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

Complicating matters is the fact the Heat are just so good this year. Jimmy Butler's first season with the team saw him average 19.9 points, 6.7 rebounds and 6.0 assists on 45.5 percent shooting from the floor before guiding his team through the Indiana Pacers in four games, Milwaukee Bucks in five and the Boston Celtics in six. 

Given the publicity and star talent some of those other Eastern Conference powerhouses have, Butler and Co. have the feel of a special story just waiting to lift a championship, too—and James is all too familiar with Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. 

Regardless of opponent, though, it almost sounds like LeBron would consider this trip to the Finals his hardest-ever thanks to the surrounding circumstances, per McMenamin:

"It's probably been the most challenging thing I've ever done as far as a professional, as far as committing to something and actually making it through. But I knew when I was coming what we were coming here for. I would be lying if I sat up here and knew that everything inside the bubble, the toll that it would take on your mind and your body and everything else, because it's been extremely tough. But I'm here for one reason and one reason only, and that's to compete for a championship."

Not that James has looked anything like a guy struggling to contend again. He averaged 25.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 10.2 assists over 67 games while shooting 49.3 percent from the floor, then he hit the bubble and put up 26.7, 10.3 and 8.9 in those same areas over 15 playoff games while shooting 54.7 percent. 

Along the way, James and the Lakers toppled Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers in five games, James Harden and the Houston Rockets in five games and Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets in—indeed—five games. 

James hasn't shredded the Western Conference without help. Rajon Rondo has been a strong facilitator, averaging 7.2 assists in the playoffs. Dwight Howard has been an attitude-driven leader. And Anthony Davis, he of a famous game-winner against the Nuggets, led the Lakers in postseason scoring with 28.8 points on average, as well as 9.3 rebounds and 57.1 shooting from the field in the bubble. 

The performance by those around James is what makes recent comments by Lakers president Jeanie Buss so interesting. While speaking with The Athletic's Sam Amick, she addressed going and getting Davis, plus slightly nodded at a certain other Los Angeles superstar from the free-agency process: 

"It was really the right thing for us to do, because when you have somebody like LeBron James, and where he is in his career, you've got to go all in. We then went through free agency, which was a little odd just because decisions were being, you know, kind of stretched long. But I think we recovered well from the delay. And you know, the roster that (Lakers vice president of basketball operations) Rob Pelinka put together, really you're now seeing what the vision was, because it is a versatile team that can go big, can go small, and that doesn't really show until you're in the playoffs." 

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

The nod there refers to Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard, who seemed close to joining LeBron and Davis on the Lakers via free agency before ultimately deciding to go to the crosstown rival, joining with Paul George. 

Amick had reported last December that there was still resentment from the Lakers for how the process was handled and how long it took (never mind a reported formal investigation by the league into the process following alleged requests from Kawhi's camp). 

After all that, Kawhi and the Clippers flopped after beating Dallas in the first round, blowing a 3-1 lead to Denver and going down in seven games in the conference semifinals, and they are now starting over at head coach after moving on from Doc Rivers. 

It sure worked out for LeBron and the Lakers regardless, as the core they formed around James after no longer waiting on the recruiting game, including names like Rondo and Alex Caruso, helped spur the team to the Finals. 

LeBron might consider the bubble his toughest path to title contention yet and might downplay encountering the team he won his first titles with, but it's clear no team was better equipped to handle the surrounding circumstances after a Hollywood-esque bit of drama stretching from the summer to the tipoff of Game 1 on Wednesday night.