LeBron James Says It's Good Lakers' 'Championship DNA' Is Tested in Close Games

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James took some positives from the fact that the Lakers have been playing close games as of late.

After L.A.'s 114-113 overtime win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, James said the following about why it is a good thing for the Lakers to be tested, per Ron Gutterman of Lakers Nation:

"Every game is going to be its own challenge. We don't mind playing games that go down to the wire, we don't mind playing games where you've got to execute. We have that championship DNA. I mean, it's good for us to be tested.

"I love that no matter who you're playing against. Teams that take you down to wire, make you execute, you have to be perfect defensively and offensively to win a game. It's pretty cool. I love it."

The Lakers have gone to OT in each of the past three games, winning all of them. Los Angeles is on a six-game winning streak overall and sits in second place in the Western Conference at 20-6, just a half-game behind the Utah Jazz.

While it would be easy to see the negatives in the Lakers needing overtime to beat the Detroit Pistons and Thunder over the past three games since they are at or near the bottom of their respective conferences, James is clearly of the mind that playing in and winning close games will harden the team and prepare it for the games that matter most.

Although it would be easy to pick apart the Lakers' recent performances, it should be noted that they have registered some highly impressive victories during their winning streak as well.

Most notably, the Lakers edged out the Boston Celtics 96-95 and blew out the Denver Nuggets 114-93. Both of those teams reached the conference finals last season.

The Lakers' talent level doesn't always manifest itself into blowout wins, but James takes pride in how hard the team plays on a game-to-game basis:

"If you really sit down and watch a 48-minute game, the way we play the game offensively and defensively, you'll see it's more than just talent. For us, we want to play harder than teams, we want to dive on loose balls, we want to take charges, we want to get our hands on deflections and things of that nature. That's who we are as well.

"Yes, we have the talent. We have a lot of talent, but at the end of the day, it will only get you so far. We do the dirty things as well."

After winning their first championship since 2010 last season, the Lakers have a bigger target on their back than any other team.

They also had the shortest offseason of any team in the history of the four major North American sports leagues along with the Miami Heat, meaning they would have as much reason as anyone to wilt when things get tough.

Instead, the veteran-laden Lakers tend to clamp down and play their best basketball when things are close, and winning three consecutive overtime games proves that.

LeBron led the Lakers on Wednesday with 25 points to go along with seven assists and six rebounds.

As long as he continues to play at that MVP level and the Lakers' effort doesn't wane, preventing the battle-tested Lakers from winning a second consecutive championship will be a gargantuan task for the NBA's other 29 teams.