Datasets:

MatthewLaw
/

Lebron_sep7thHack

+First of all, you tip your hat to them
+Defending champions, super, super, great team, super well coached
+And you tippy hats
+I mean, they made the plays down the stretch to win this series, and so you get credit
+What credit is due, that's for sure
+No, I just want to get home to the family, honestly
+Start looking at the schedule
+Obviously, I got, you know, my son, one of my boys is just trying to decide if he's going to enter the draft or go back to school
+I got another kid that's playing au ball right now
+My daughter is playing volleyball, and my wife is doing so many great things
+So it's about family right now
+And then in a couple months, I gotta go to Vegas for training camp, so I gotta rest my body for USAB
+But that's kind of the initial thoughts
+I don't know
+I haven't given much thought lately
+Obviously, I thought about it in the past, but then of the day, the kid
+The kid has to do what he wants to do, and I don't even want to say kid no more
+The young man will decide what he wants to do and how he wants his career to go
+So I just think the fact that
+I'm not going to ask a corny comparison about you to anybody else, but I am going to ask you to compare 35 year old LeBron with a little bit of gray in that beer
+Maybe a little bit less up top to 27
+Year old LeBron that got that first one
+What's better about LeBron James 35 year old game and mind than the young man that won his first?
+Oh, yeah
+By just doing what I know how to do
+There's no pressure
+There's no pressure at all
+I've been getting pressure since I was ten years old
+I don't think there's no pressure for me because I'm doing something that I love to do, that's play the game of basketball
+I'm doing the same thing that y'all love to do, and that's y'all like to watch me play basketball
+If I ask y'all that question, y'all gonna say the same thing
+I mean, is there any pressure to ask me these questions? It's no pressure because y'all know how to do what y'all do, right?
+Run in the NBA? Well, you know, I never say myself
+I always say my team
+It's not about myself
+It's just about how well, as a team, we can grow as a family and just get better every single day, because the other teams out there is getting better every day
+And if we take one step backwards, we gonna end up like we was this year
+We don't want that to happen again
+This is for LeBron and everybody else up here
+Can you describe a little bit about how school is going to be tomorrow? School
+But anyways, school will be great
+I want to love every moment of it
+No, I might even invite you over to my house
+Well, for me, I'm not going to be around to, say, the franchise
+I'm be around for, hopefully, the average, ten to 15 years
+But I'm just trying to make Cleveland the way it was when
+I don't want to say this, but when Michael Jordan used to kill us all the time
+But I'm just trying to do the best I can, and I think I'm gonna do a real
+A real good job
+Oh, no, I was in
+They put me in the nosebleeds
+First time I ever went to a Cavs game
+I like that too much
+The gun, huh? Freshmen
+I couldn't see him
+I couldn't see who
+I just went to the game
+I don't know who I was watching
+I had my own little tv up there, just watching the cat
+Oh, it's bad now
+I don't even know that
+I don't know how I got out of there either
+I think I fainted
+It was so far up for all
+Well, I hope I can put a lot of smiles back on people's faces in Cleveland
+You know, the baseball team is going through a transition right now, and basketball team, you know, football team is really starting to kick in now
+And I hope, you know, the basketball team, we gonna be
+Y'all gonna be excited about coming to the games
+Yes, I agree
+I said a lot of parts of my game that needs to be improved, but when the season start, they have to talk about something else
+Make sure you get this, too
+I'm not going to guarantee no championship
+I'll tell you that
+I'm just going to
+I'm guaranteed that we get better every day, and that's the thing that you guys don't see that comes from practice
+Sometimes you have practice, but sometimes you're not
+Just know that we're going to get better every day, and we're going to be a lot better team than last year
+I can guarantee that
+Well, I think so
+I just think that
+I just hope that they be your friend until you get on the team
+I just hope that they accept me for who I am as a basketball player and especially as a person
+I'm not coming into the team right away trying to be a leader, but if they give that to me, I know how to be a leader, but I'm just going to accept my role until I have to do something
+But I'm just going to try to get our team better every day
+Ron, what's the biggest obstacle you face now? Making a jump to this team
+Just staying focused, going from 27 games to 82 games, and it's just all about eating right and staying healthy and doing the right things off and on the court
+I think that's the biggest
+No more skittles
+Yeah, I still eat skittles
+I got to
+I got to eat skittles
+The physically
+Physically bib ready
+I just feel
+I don't know
+It's no different for me
+I know how to play the game of basketball
+Not saying that to be cocky
+I just
+I think I know how to play the game of basketball, and I don't change my game when I'm playing against anyone
+I'm just looking forward to seeing who gonna be our coach
+Either it's gonna be Keith smart gonna stay, or we gonna get somebody in there, because as soon as we get a new coach, as soon as I be able to get a good relationship with him
+Yep
+Coach Drew Joyce
+Yeah
+My friend's been nervous
+I've been nervous
+Y'all been nervous? Cause I know y'all want me to stay here, but it's been a long
+It's been a long day, but I
+This is just the start of something new
+I love it
+I like that jersey a lot
+It's nice
+What number do you want to win undecided right now? I like that paper in the plain
+I like that picture in the plain
+Dita today look pretty good, but y'all got me with adidas shoes on
+I don't wear Adidas
+I'm a Nike guy
+I'm a Nike guy
+Could help them the most? The one or the two? Right now we got smush playing the one, and I think I can contribute after one or the two
+Ready for snatching it?
+Well, I'm real excited
+I really can't
+It's not kicked into me yet
+You know, my boy lc asked me, what does it feel like? And it hasn't kicked in yet to what I'm getting myself into
+But I'm so excited about being a Nike guy, and I just felt that that was the best fit for me, you know, and somewhat it had to do about the money, of course, but I just think that they showed me that it was going to be a long term thing, and that's what hopefully I can get from the Cavs
+No
+I was just excited
+Just really excited
+Yeah, bitch
+What need? What needed
+I always do my homework
+You gonna ask me a question? I always do my homework
+Honor old student
+No
+Did my homework on the nuggets
+I don't
+I'm a cavalier
+I don't want to talk about too much about the nuggets you'll be playing
+A lot
+That's only 2 hours away, huh? Yeah
+You know, if they play them a lot, too
+Play them a lot, too
+I think if they pick Carmelo, it's a great choice
+Well, I think these boys are more happier than I am
+You know, the whole year
+Y'all see them in Adidas now
+What y'all see em in? Look at em
+They all got look at em
+They all got on Nike
+They all got on Nike now, but we're just excited
+We was ready for it to happen
+It seemed like on Monday that this day had never come
+But now, you know, we gonna do a little celebrating this weekend, didn't he? Well, all right, then
+See y'all see at the gun
+Just like this
+It
+Ronnie is number one on my fucking list
+That's dope
+He's number one on my list that I want to play with for sure
+Nah, he can't beat me
+Not too long ago, I said
+I asked him, I said, you wanna
+What you wanna do with this? Like, you wanna get to the pros? What you wanna do? He's like, yeah
+I said, why? He said, cause I wanna make a name for myself
+And when I heard that album that's
+Nothing
+I said
+I said, well, let's fucking get it
+Let's get it
+Let's get it
+That's all I need to hear
+I appreciate what you did, but back to five
+I wanna be
+Yeah
+And I love it
+By the way, he changed his name to Bronny
+I didn't
+He changed his name
+Yeah
+Yeah, I made him a junior
+But he Bronny
+And he Bronny to the world
+He Bronny to the world
+You know who else you want to play with in today's game? Shit, man, there's some motherfuckers in today's game, but Steph Curry
+Steph Curry's the one that I want to play with for sure in today's game
+All time
+It's crazy, man
+I love Scottie Pippen, bro
+Yeah
+Scottie was like the shit
+Like, I mean, obviously, MJ was crazy cold
+Kobe would have been another one
+But, like, Scottie Pippen and Penny Hardaway was like my two
+Cause I seen myself in them
+Same how Asia just said what she just said
+Like, I saw myself in Pippen and Penny
+Tall guards point forward, get everybody involved, defending all type of positions
+But, like, right now, it's Steph
+I love everything about that guy
+When he get out of his car, you better guard him right from the moment he pulls up to the arena
+As soon as he get out of
+You might want to guard him when he can get out of the bed, parking dick
+Swear to God
+He's serious
+Too, obviously
+I love Luca
+Luca Cole
+Luca bamboo
+Yeah? Yeah, me and Luca, we good
+I do him dirty
+You two in shape right now for Khaled?
+I do not make reactions right off the bat, because, you know, I've been a part of
+I created it uninterrupted, because there's times where you can say something and they can take about a small bit of it, and then this is what they blast out to everybody
+And that's why I started uninterrupted, because I got tired of being interrupted about these things I was saying into the media
+And they will only take
+Out of the 20 minutes I was talking, they will take two minutes
+One clip
+Put it on there
+LeBron says this, and I got tired of that
+So when I heard the comment that Kyrie made, I wanted to, one, not only find the whole transcript, but also call my people, send me the whole transcript
+And I heard he had did it on Katie's podcast
+And I was a little like, like, damn
+Once I got the whole transcript, I was like, damn
+You know, I wasn't like, are you tripping? I hit game winning shots
+I was not like that
+I was like, damn
+Because you were there for a couple seasons
+I mean, I played with Kyrie for three seasons
+The whole time while I was there, I only wanted to see him be an mvp of our league
+I only cared about his success, and it just didn't align
+It just didn't align
+And we was able to win a championship
+That's the craziest thing
+We were still able to win a championship, and we could never align
+But I only cared about his well being, both on and off the floor
+And it kind of, like
+It kind of hurt me a little bit
+Know that's what it was because it was the finals
+Listen
+Kd's a dog
+Team USA was giving a lot to me, so I feel like, you know, it's an opportunity for me to give back
+You know, we all had dialogue throughout the season and we thought it'd be pretty special
+We were all healthy
+We all have an opportunity to get together and, you know, show what we're capable of
+You know, giving my all to the game, to the craft, and also dedicating my body, understanding that, you know, my body is my tempo
+To continue to play at a high level, you have to be able to commit to doing the things that I guess some of your peers don't want to do
+I want to squeeze as much juice as I can out of my career
+It's going to work just like any one of my teammates
+Hold him accountable, man, he should hold me accountable when I do things, you know, not right
+You know, for me, you know, I probably would hold him at a higher standard because, you know, I want him to be great
+I want him to be as great as he can be
+You're only going to get out as much as you put in, you know? So I hope that I'm able to inspire, you know, the next generation to, you know, put the work in as both on the floor, off the floor, commit to the game
+There's no shortcuts to being great, and he's lived it
+What?
+Melissa, last question
+Hey, Bron, obviously, all time scoring record
+Another season where you essentially defeat father time again
+On a personal level, how would you evaluate the season that you had? I don't know
+I love to play the game
+I love to compete
+I love to be out there for my guys, my teammates, wherever I have
+That particular year, I think it was special in the fact that having a first year coaching, first year coaching staff to be able to take, you know, take them to the Western Conference finals, I think that's dope for coach Hamm and his coaching staff going forward
+That's pretty amazing for me
+I mean, I just, you know, it's all about availability for me and keeping my mind sharp and things of that nature
+Being present on the floor, being president, you know, locker room and bus rides and plane rides, things of that nature
+It's challenging
+It's challenging
+You know, for sure, it was a very challenging season, you know, for me, you know, for our ball club
+And obviously, you know, we know what went on early on or whatever the case may be
+But it was a pretty cool, pretty cool ride
+But I don't know
+I don't know
+I don't know
+I think it's okay
+I don't like to say it's a successful year because I don't play for anything besides winning championships at this point in my career
+And I don't
+I don't get a kick out of making a conference appearance
+I've done it a lot, and it's not fun to me to not be able to be able to be a part of, you know, get into the finals
+But we'll see, we'll see
+We'll see what happens going forward
+But I don't know
+I don't know
+I got a lot to think about, to be honest
+I got a lot to think about, to be honest
+And just for me personally, going forward with the game of basketball, got a lot to think about
+Appreciate it
+Thanks for watching ESPN on YouTube
+For live streaming sports and premium content, subscribe to ESPN Plus
+We're gonna have a chance to talk about some history in the fall
+With the 55th pick in the 2024 NBA draft, the Los Angeles Lakers select Bronnie James, LeBron James and Ronnie James will not only be the first teammates to be a father son duo in league history, it's the first time it's ever happened, period
+Just take me back to New York
+What was that moment like for you?
+Between the lines, to some extent, basketball's gonna take care of itself, but outside of those lines, he's starting to have some of the same arrows slung at him that you had when you were a teenager
+What's gonna take for him to withstand that?
+Yeah
+We have breaking news
+Just six days after drafting Bronny James, the Lakers have signed his father
+You signed a new contract with the Lakers
+It potentially could take you through 23 seasons in the NBA, which
+Pretty good number
+Do you think this could be the last deal you ever sign as an NBA player?
+Rich Paul told me leading up to you signing that deal that you'd be willing to take a pay cut to sign an impact player
+But here we sit, Clay Thompson's with the Dallas Mavericks, Demarti Rosen's with the Sacramento Kings
+What do you think happens?
+Since 2020, as the team had its ups and downs, we've had some private conversations about just how much winning still matters to you
+You have all the accolades
+We talked about the stuff you've been able to earn through this game, but you still want to win
+Can you do it here with the Lakers between now and the end of your career? Can it happen again?
+What gives you that confidence?
+That's it
+This historic 2020 NBA championship belongs to the Los Angeles Lakers
+The Lakers conquer the bubble, and banner number 17 will soon hang in the rafters
+I am
+I promise you
+I have not mapped out how many seasons I have left
+I know it's not that many
+I also don't know if I will
+I was asked this question a couple days ago
+Will you kind of take the farewell tour, or were you kind of just Tim dunking it? I'm 50 50
+I'm gonna be honest, because there's times where I feel like, I guess I owe it to my fans that's been along this journey with me for two decades plus to be able to give them that moment, you know, where it's every city and whatever the case may be, and, you know, they give you your flowers or whatever the case may be, you know, that seems cool
+But the other side of, I've never been that great with accepting, like, praise
+It's a weird feeling for me
+I never really talked about it much, but it's just a weird feeling for me
+So to go in each city, if that's the case, I don't know
+I've seen Mike's, I've seen Kobe's
+I've seen a lot of guys
+I just don't know how much I
+How I feel
+I don't know if I will feel great about it
+Maybe the only child in me, maybe, but I don't know
+But I am a laker, and I am happy and been very happy being a laker the last six years, and hopefully it stays that way
+But I don't have the answer to how long it is or which uniform I'll be in
+Hopefully it is with the Lakers
+It's a great organization and so many greats, but we'll see
+I don't know how it's going to end, but it's coming
+It does
+It does
+In the fact that, you know, when I was a kid, when I was in high school, I was growing up through the ranks
+When Kobe came into the league, he was, you know, wasn't a dream of mine to come straight, you know, from high school at that point in time to the NBA
+But I was like, wow, a 17 year old, 18 year old kid being able to make that leap, that's pretty damn cool
+And as I started playing more ball and I went into high school, the things that he was doing on the floor, I admired and wanted to be a part of
+I went to ABCD camp, and he came and talked to all the kids that was there, that happened to be one of the kids that was there
+And I was just listening
+I was just trying to soak everything up I could
+And I remember one thing that he said
+He was like, if you want to try to be, you know, great at it or want to be one of the greats, you got to put the work in
+You know, there's no substitution to work
+And I was a 15 year old kid at that camp
+You can actually find the footage of him at that camp
+And in 2001, I believe I was playing in New Jersey, and the all star game, if I'm not mistaken, and y'all can correct me, was in Philly, right? Yeah
+That Saturday, me and Maverick drove to the intercontinental downtown Philadelphia, and he gave me a pair of his shoes, which I ended up wearing that following night
+It was the red, white, and blue Kobe's
+I was a 15 and he was a 14, and I wore him anyways
+And I sat and just talked to him for a little bit
+He gave me the shoes
+I rocked him in the game
+And it was the same night that we played Oak hill against Melo
+And then I saw what he was able to do the very next night
+Winning MVP here in Philly
+That same
+That following night as I got drafted, I still just admired him, you know, seeing what he was able to accomplish, winning championships, having, you know, being early in his career where, you know, he learned from the misses that he had against the series against Utah
+And he just used that as motivation and got better and better and better to him winning multiple championships and continued to admire him throughout my high school rank and then as competitors, just seeing the work ethic, the work ethic that he put into the game
+He had zero flaws offensively
+Zero
+You backed off of him
+He could shoot the three
+You body him up a little bit, he can go around you
+He can shoot the mid range he can post, he can make free throws
+He had zero flaws offensively, and, you know, that's something that I admired as well
+Just being at a point where the defense will always be at bay, where they couldn't guard you at all offensively, where you just felt like you was just immortal offensively because of your skill set and your work ethic
+We take it down to 2008, where we become the redeemed team, and it was a dream come true for me to be able to line up alongside of him, just admired him for so many years and him seeing him from afar and then being able to be in practices with him and, you know, me watching and learning so on
+I mean, it's just, it's just too much
+It's just too much
+The story is just too much
+It doesn't make sense
+And just to make a long story short, now I'm here in the Lakers uniform in Philadelphia, where he's from, where I wanted, the first time I ever met him, gave me his shoes
+He won an all star weekend
+It's just, it's surreal
+It doesn't make no sense, but the, the universe just puts things in your life, and when you, I guess when you live in the right way or you just given everything to whatever you're doing, things happen organically, and it's not supposed to make sense, but it just happens
+Sorry
+And I'm happy just to be in any conversation with Kobe being Bryant, one of the all time greatest basketball players to ever play, one of the all time greatest Lakers
+The man got two jerseys hanging up in Staples center
+It's just crazy
+Braun? Let's do
+I mean, let's do the Kyrie thing
+Let's do that
+Well, my initial thoughts, when I heard that Kyrie wanted to be traded, I had a ton of emotions
+You know, I was wondering if something I could have did better to make him not want to be traded
+Is it the way that the season finished or was it
+Was it me coming back in the first place? Was it the coaching changes or the GM change or
+I don't know
+I had so many different emotions go through my head
+And for me personally, you guys know, you guys are around for the guys that was around every day I try to do whatever I could do to help the kid out, be the best player he can be, try to help him be a better leader, be a better scorer, a better, a better floor general, a better defender, a better pastor, getting guys involved, a better leader
+Vocally, I tried to give him everything and give him as much of the DNA as I could because, like I told you guys throughout the season, at some point when he was ready to take over the keys, I was ready to give them to him
+So the only thing I'm upset about is that he took a lot of DNA into blueprints now to Boston
+That's the only thing I'm upset about, really
+Other than that
+I mean, I wish the kid
+Wish the kid great health and the kid wanted to do what was best for his, I guess, for his career
+And I give credit to our GM, Kobe, and to the ownership for granting that for him
+So other than that, I don't really have much I don't really have much more to say
+Like I said, many different emotions
+I just hope that I was the, you know, I tried to do whatever I could, just try to help the kid be as great as he could be or as great as he wanted to be
+And, you know, that's it
+No, I don't have any advice for him now
+I got no advice for him or any other people that's on any other team
+No, we, listen, man, we trying to win a championship here, I don't have time to give advice to other guys
+You're either with us or you're against us
+So, you know, I'm truly humbled and excited, and it was a gratifying three years that we played together
+But, you know, even if my, like, if my son went to another team and we was playing against each other, I'm not giving him shit
+Nah, he'd come home and eat dinner or something, but he'd get no advice from me
+That's just the way it go
+Well, I mean, emotions will come up anytime you've hosted a trophy with a teammate, and there's different levels of emotion, obviously, depending on the player or different, you know, what you went through with that guy
+But it was emotions
+When I came back to Cleveland and I saw, you know, you know, D Wade and Udonis and Chris and Mario and those guys when the first time I seen those guys, a lot of emotions, tons of emotions, because, you know, what you went through
+There was emotions last year when, you know, when we seen, when deli came back for the first time, you know, after hosting the trophy, you know, so there will be emotions that go through your head because, you know, you know, the grind and everything that you went through with that particular player being Kyrie, you know, but hopefully, you know, and I've been in this position before, so I know once the game gets going, then I'll be able to just focus on us, just trying to get better and be the best team that we can be that night, and that's the only thing that matters
+Oh, I'm sorry
+No, I haven't
+Since he got traded, I had a little dialogue with him when I heard that he wanted to be traded, but since then, I haven't, you know, you guys know Kyrie, so
+Next question
+No, I don't think anybody in the organization seems to come in
+I mean, you guys don't see him all the time, but Jason, you around enough
+I mean, if it's something that we see, you guys would have saw as well
+So it was definitely a shock
+But, you know, we did a great job of, I think, like I said, kobe and, you know, and the guys in the front office did a great job of putting together a great package for our team to be as complete as we've been in a long time
+So that's what I'm truly excited about
+I mean, I reached out to him because I just wanted to get a little insight on, you know, why he felt like he wanted to move on
+And, you know, and it was, you know, it was, like I said, I had a lot of emotions in my head, but I'm one to always kind of reach out to someone and just see, you know, from their advantage point of, you know, because I didn't
+When I heard it, I heard it from a third or fourth party, and I don't, you know, so many things can be fabricated when you hear from different sources and different people
+And, you know, obviously, the word source in this world is the worst thing in the world, especially in the sports world
+So I'm not a source guy
+So I went straight to the guy, and he basically just let me know that that was the direction he wanted to go in, and I was okay with that
+I mean, it's a business
+I understand that
+And it doesn't stop me from leading this franchise and leading his team and going on about it, but I definitely wanted to just go right to him and ask him, and he clarified it for me, so I was at ease
+I don't know when you guys found out about it, to be honest
+You know, I spent a lot of time this summer with my son and their basketball tournaments and things of that nature
+So when
+When I hear about things, it's kind of shocking to me because I'm not even really on my phone that much as far as the, you know, the media's perspective, because I kind of try to give it a break, but I don't know when you guys heard about it, but when I heard about it, I just went to the source
+To be quite honest with you, everybody wanted to see me fail
+When I got to the league, everybody was just like, it's not
+It's no way he's going to be able to exceed, you know, the expectations that's put upon him
+There's no way
+I seen, for the first time in a long time, I seen a commercial that was played before my first game
+And when I rewatched it today for the first time, I was like, I think they was mentioning, like, all the greats that ever played the game of basketball
+I think it was like Big O and Michael and Kareem and Kobe, and I forgot who all else was in that commercial
+Whatever the case may be, could be wrong about some of the names that I mentioned, but it was
+And then it was like, in the next one, LeBron James
+And I didn't even see that commercial, but I was, like, watching the tay
+I was like, what the hell? Like, that expectation on an 18 year old kid
+Like, that was
+That was insane to just think about it
+And I was watching it today
+I was like, I wish that on no kid and no sport to have, to have this type of pressure put on them, and everybody wanted to see you fail
+So I wouldn't tell that 18 year old kid nothing
+I would tell them just to do exactly what you're thinking
+No matter what, just stay true to yourself, believe in yourself, and don't ever get too high
+Get too high
+They're going to try to knock you off, but at the same time, if you fall, just like the great lady Leah said, just pick yourself up and try again
+And I've done that in my career
+Appreciate it
+Well, definitely disappointed
+I can't sit here and say I'm not disappointed on not being able to land such a talent, but someone that I had great chemistry with and know I got great chemistry with on the floor that can help you win, you know, championships in my mind, in my eyes
+But my focus has shifted now
+My focus has shifted back to where it should be
+And that's, that's this club now and what we have in the locker room
+It's a quick pivot
+Quick pivot
+It don't take me long
+It don't take me long
+I don't get too excited about the possibilities of things that can be
+I kind of envision myself on what it can, but I don't invest it all the way into until I know what's happening
+And when it does not happen, I'm back locked in on the job at hand
+So we had an opportunity
+Our names was out there, the Lakers name was out there
+We had an opportunity, didn't happen
+We move on and we finished the season strong, try to get a bid into the postseason where I feel if we go in healthy and we compete
+Second row
+Brown looked like you sought out Michael after the ceremony
+You had a moment with him
+What was that like for you? And can you share anything about what you guys said? Let me switch about t
+Let me switch you out
+Um, yeah, because out of the
+It was so much chaos going on after we all kind of split
+Um, I did not want to lose the opportunity to, uh, to shake the man's hand that inspired me throughout my childhood
+Haven't had much dialogue with him in my 20 years or 19 years in this
+In this business
+But part of me wouldn't be here without MJ's inspiration
+Always wanted to be like him growing up, you know, it's crazy that the game winning shot tonight was a fade away, and it was inspired by MJ, you know, the way he wore his shoes, the way he wore his uniform
+I mean, all the way down to some of the cars that he drove, how much he inspired me, and I didn't want to waste that opportunity, because we're not in the same building a lot and haven't been in the same building a lot throughout my career, and it meant something to me
+No, I don't think it's about the win, the loss of this thing together
+We don't have a lot of time to continue to not take step forward
+We have to continue to take step four
+A lot of these teams that we're playing have been practicing either one month or months in advance of
+We're like maybe two weeks into together
+So every game, every film session, we get an opportunity
+We have to try to make the most of it, not take any steps back, and it doesn't matter, you know, when it comes to how close the game is or not
+Did we get better? I feel like in the first half we allowed them to get comfortable
+You know, it's our eight and threes
+And then in the second half, we played our style of basketball and we only gave up 148, 44 points in the second half
+That's pretty good compared to almost 60 in the first half, so that's good for us
+No, we came in with the right mindset
+I mean, they'll take nothing away from South Sudan
+They played extremely good basketball and that's why the game is won in between the lines and not, you know, on paper
+So, you know, they got better, we got better at certain parts of the game
+And, you know, going to our next appointment, we look forward to that as well
+That's another opportunity for us to get better and continue to improve, and it should be fine
+When it comes to confidence, I think there's no substitution for the work you know, you just have to put the work in
+The sport of basketball is what you want to do, and you have a passion for it and love for it
+You have to put the work in and find ways to play the game, find ways to train, find ways to get better, watch the game, study the game, you know, and I think it all pays
+I think it all pays off
+I think when you give to the game, the game automatically reciprocates it to you and you're very passionate about, you know, giving it all and actually having a mindset of, like, I really love this
+It's something I want to do
+So I think it's all about the work
+Trying to make it well, I mean, William is like a brother of mine
+We had a lot of great times in LA
+Fun guy, charismatic guy, loves the game
+You know, I told him tonight I was proud of him as well, continuing his journey in the game of basketball
+He's an inspiration to a lot of people
+That's from where he's from
+You know, I understand that we are as well, but it's always great to have someone in your home town, your home country, to be able to make it in the NBA or just play, you know, professional basketball, no matter if it's the NBA or if it's overseas
+And you can use that as an inspiration when you have someone in your own backyard able to take it further than what other people, even people your own, you know, your own time believe sometimes
+So I think Wayne is an inspiration to all his brothers and sisters around where he's from
+I hope all my inspirations will
+Yeah, the development of the game is worldwide
+And I think South Sudan one is very well coached
+Obviously, Royal Ivy over there has been around our game and been around the NBA for quite a long time
+So he knows the game
+Obviously
+Luau Dang is over there as well, so he knows the game
+So to have that representation, to have that type of leadership over there, teaching them the right way how to play the game, you know, it definitely is good
+I mean, it's great, actually, you know, so, you know, the game is worldwide and it's not one place that, you know that you don't see the game being played
+And, you know, I think that's the beauty of it
+The game of basketball brings together so many people and you're able to build so many brotherhoods or sisterhoods or whatever the case may be by playing a game of basketball, and it can take you places that you just never thought you would be able to go
+I didn't have any feelings, I didn't have any flashbacks
+It was kind of like it was brand new because it was over twelve years ago when I was here, so
+But it's always great to be back here in the UK, play a game that I love to play, representing USA and do it in front of fans that appreciate the game of basketball and appreciate what I've been able to do throughout my life and my career
+So it was fun to get back out on the floor and just like, have fun, try to get better and be back
+Like you said, be back in o two arena
+As always, always a pleasure
+There's been so many great acts here, not just in sports, but in entertainment
+And whatever the case may be, it's a great place for a lot of people to come to perform
+Happy to have been part of that legacy
+Appreciate it
+I think, well, first of all, you know, I wear the number because of Mike
+I think I fell in love with the game because of Mike, just seeing what he was able to accomplish
+But I felt like Mike was so, you know, when you're growing up and you seeing Michael Jordan, it's almost like a God
+So I didn't never believe I could be Mike
+So I started to focus myself on other players and other people around my neighborhood because I never thought that you could get to a point where Mike was
+So I think that helped shape my game
+And I think the biggest thing for me sitting here today after breaking the all time scoring record and playoff history is that I did it just being me
+I don't have to score the ball to make an impact in a basketball game
+And that was my mindset
+You know, when I started playing the game, I was like, if I'm not scoring the ball, how can I still make an impact on the game? And it's carried me all the way to this point now, and it's gonna carry me for the rest of my career because scoring is not number one on my agenda
+I don't have, I
+I mean, you're on the green
+I'm not a golfer
+This guy right here to my left is, though, so he'll tell me what that mean
+We get on the bus, drove the green, I'll tell you that
+I think, Jason, at the end of the day, for my name to come up in a discussion with the greatest basketball player of all time, it was like, wow
+Like I said, I did pretty much everything that MJ did when I was a kid
+I shot fadeaways before I should have
+I wore a leg sleeve on my leg and folded it down so you saw the red part for no reason
+I wore black and red shoes with white socks
+I wore short shorts so you could see my under shorts underneath
+I didn't go bald like Mike, but I'm getting there
+But I'm getting there
+But it'd be post career, though
+That's the only thing I didn't do
+But other than that, I did everything Mike did
+I even wore a wristband on my forearm, you know, so I didn't do the hoop in ring, either
+That was Mike, but I did everything Mike did, man, I wanted to be Mike
+And so for my name to come up in any discussion with Michael Jordan or Kareem and all these great guys that has paved the way for myself and Tristan and Kev and swish, it's like
+So it's just a wow factor
+I don't really have nothing to say
+All right, last question down here on the right
+That's
+I mean, that's all part of the plan
+It's been part of the plan since I really started taking this game serious, to say, how can I get the youth to feel like passing the ball is okay? Making the pass, making the extra pass is okay, drawing two defenders
+And no matter if you win or lose and you make the right play, it's okay, you know, because like you said, scoring the ball is so heralded in our sport
+And I just
+I want the fundamentals of the game to be as great as they can be
+And it's some kid or a group of kids from the west coast to the east coast to the midwest to the south, and everything in between, all around the world can look at me and say, well, I made the extra pass because LeBron made the extra pass, or I got a chase down block, and I didn't give up on the play because LeBron didn't give up
+That would mean the world to me
+So we'll see what happens
+We'll see what happens
+Appreciate it
+Thanks, everybody
+There is something about this company that feels, not to be glib about it, but very l
+In many ways, walking around, seeing people
+What do you take from sort of LA that informs what this has become?
+One, try to be better than me
+Use me as much as you want
+Use what I do
+You can use my platform
+You can use my words
+You can use, you know, the inspiration that I try to give
+But any way you can be great at doing what you love to do, you got to commit to it
+You can't want something but not put in the work, you know? And it doesn't matter what you're doing in life, no matter what it is
+It could be a professional athlete or it could be an artist
+It could be a doctor
+It could be anything in the world, a president of the United States
+But you got to put the work in
+And I think if you put the work in, the results will happen organically
+And most importantly, you got to find happiness, too
+You know, if you're having fun, enjoying what you're doing, then it just makes
+It makes it so much easier
+It makes it so much easier to just, like, you want to do it every day because it's something that you really enjoy doing, and you don't look at it as work
+I mean, it's
+It's not
+It's not about just
+It's not a lot
+It's not about a little girl or a little boy or whatever the case may be
+If you want to play, then you got to put the work into it
+You got to put the work into it
+And
+And it really can't be much excuse
+You don't need much to play the game of basketball
+You know, my first basketball, who was literally was
+It was a crate, a milk crate that I cut the bottom out and nailed it to a telephone pole, you know? And so, you know, just
+Just play it as much as you can
+Learn about it as much as you can watch it
+You know, I was watching the game of basketball a lot, too, when I was a kid, when I wasn't able to play it
+Just trying to learn, learning from the best, you know, seeing the intricate parts of the game, how important a bounce pass is, how important a chess pass is, how important, you know, just being a great teammate and things of that nature
+So this game is the most
+It's the most beautiful game in the world, and it gives back to you when you
+When you commit to it and you put all your
+Your passion and your love and your joy and your cry and everything
+Got the name
+Good
+Lt will do an intro for you
+Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome LeBron James
+Before I get started on the speech that I have, I want to acknowledge audelize that was lost Sunday morning
+Alyssa Altobelli, John Altobelli, Carrie Altobelli, Peyton Chester, Sarah Chester, Christina Mouser, Ara Zalbania, Gianna Bryant, and Kobe Bryant
+Now, I got something written down
+They asked me to kind of stay on course, or whatever the case may be, but Laker nation, man, I would be selling y'all short if I read off this shit
+So I'm gonna go straight from the heart
+The first thing that come to mind, man, is all about family
+And as I look around this arena, we're all grieving, we're all hurt, we're all heartbroken
+But when we're going through things like this, the best thing you can do is lean on the shoulders of your family
+And from Sunday morning all the way to this point, now, I heard about Laker Nation before I got here last year, about how much of a family it is
+And that is absolutely what I've seen this whole week
+Not only from the players, not only from the coaching staff, not only from the organization, but from everybody
+Everybody that's here
+This is really, truly, truly a family
+And I know Kobe and Gianna and Vanessa and everybody, thank you guys from the bottom of their heart, as Kobe said
+Now, I know at some point we will have a memorial for Kobe, but I look at this, I look at this as a celebration tonight
+This is a celebration of the 20 years of the blood, the sweat, the tears, the broken down body, getting up, sitting down, everything, the countless hours, the determination to be as great as he could be
+Tonight we celebrate the kid that came here at 18 years of age, retired at 38, and became probably the best dad that we've seen over the last three years, man, tonight is a celebration before we get to play
+Love y'all, man
+Kobe is a brother to me
+And from the time I was in high school to watching him afar, to get in this league at 18, watching him up close, all the battles that we had throughout my career, the one thing that we always shared is that determination to just want to win and just want to be great
+And the fact that I'm here now means so much to me
+I want to continue along with my teammates, to continue his legacy, not only for this year, but as long as we can play the game of basketball that we love, because that's what Kobe Bryant will want to
+So, in the words of Kobe Bryant, mamba, out
+But in the words of us, not forgotten
+Live on, brother
+I had one coach, and he used to say, put yourself in situations where you're not in
+You're not comfortable
+Oh, yeah, that's my favorite saying
+It is a question not related to the game, but since it has been a lot of publicity yesterday and today about godfather part two, which is the scene or the moment or the phrase or the quote? You like more from the movie? Oh, from the godfather
+There's too many different phrases and too many different lines in that movie to just categorize one
+But quit is the one
+Quit inspiration represents you more
+I mean, each movie is 9 hours long
+I mean, what do you want me to do? I mean, there's so many
+I don't know
+I'll let you pick one and I roll with it
+It's a great trilogy
+Yeah
+So you're holding the autobiography of Malcolm X along with Alex Haley
+I don't know how far you are into the book, but what's your biggest takeaway so far? I kind of just started a couple days ago, but I've read and I
+A lot of
+A lot of notes over the years
+It's my first time actually reading this from start to finish
+But just a very, very smart man
+Smart man
+And basically his words, in the sixties and what was going on is actually what's going on today
+I watched the whole game
+I seen the whole game
+I was at home watching the game
+And, you know, I said he was going before the game even started
+When I seen
+I said he was probably going to score 70 tonight
+I don't know what made me say that
+And my friends was with me and they was like, okay
+So when he got to, like, 70, I was like, well, he might as well go for 80 now
+So, I mean, I'm a fan of the game, and to see that performance was unbelievable
+2% of Liverpool, how does that come about? I read about the franchise and how amazing it is, and I actually made a trip over to Liverpool as well and see all the sights in the arena and everything
+So it was pretty unique
+Crouchy is actually a Liverpool legend
+I don't know if you knew that
+No, I knew that
+No, I knew that
+I didn't get an opportunity to see him play when he was with the club, but I definitely knew that
+The current captain, Jordan Henderson, just scored his first goal for England the other day
+It was amazing to see
+You fan of his? No, absolutely
+And I saw
+And I saw a clip of that, too
+I didn't get an opportunity to actually see the game live, but I saw that he was able to score one in the match the other day, and I thought that was pretty unique
+The fact that he would do that and also be with Liverpool football club
+I've been listening to those guys for so long
+I was listening to those guys when I
+My first year with the heat in 2010
+You can ask any one of my teammates back then had no idea what Amigos was
+They were, like, cursing me out when I would play it throughout the weight room or play it throughout the locker room
+I was like, I'm telling you, these guys are next
+I'm
+Then, you know, right now these days, like, turn this off
+I'm gonna hear this
+Just fast forward to me just
+Just knowing I take off personally and see
+My condolences to Quavo and the family and the whole QC family
+And everybody
+Second thing I saw was three rims from being poked in eye on that previous possession when I drove to the hole and then in transition, so I just aim for the middle one
+To the brown
+LeBron James has a about a 40 inch vertical leap, unlimited range on his jump shot
+But the strength of his game could be his passing
+Last season, he won a second state championship and was the first sophomore named to USA Today's All America team
+James outside for three
+James is young enough to have been born during Michael Jordan's rookie season and talented enough that some say he might be the next Jordan
+The two number 20 three's have already played together
+James has created such a buzz that his team can no longer play here in its own gym
+It's too small
+They now play their home games at the University of Akron, where the capacity is about 6000
+And you never know who might show up
+James is already the subject of a sneaker war between Adidas and Nike
+His high school wears Adidas, and James receives custom made sneakers complete with his initials and number
+Nike says it's trying to build a relationship with James and his family, but can't sign him until he turns pro
+To the basket, scores
+Nice play by LeBron James
+Thought about challenging an NBA rule which says you can't turn pro until your high school class graduates
+He figured he's as old as Ty Tryon and he's a pro
+James is 17
+He's staying in school
+He says he's thinking about college, but few expect him to go
+In the meantime, the legend continues to grow of the schoolboy from Akron who some say just might be the next Jordan
+Listen, I will call Kyrie the wizard all the time
+Like, all the time
+Like, there was nothing on the basketball floor that Kyrie couldn't do
+And sitting here watching it, you know, I'm like, I'm playing, like, so fucking happy and so proud
+And to watch him and continue his growth or whatever the case may be, and at the same time, I'm so fucking mad at the same time that I am not his running mate anymore
+So I'm like, I just remember those times
+And to
+Back to what you were saying, jj, to have a guy like Kyrie Irvin as the ultimate wild cardinal, that's like having a draw four in your hand every time someone deals you cars in Uno
+Like, every single time, because he has the ability to
+Like you said, I saw him in game one, west conference finals, game one
+You know, I think up until that point, I don't know the stat
+Cause I'm not writing down the stats, and I don't call the games like you guys, but I think Kyrie was only averaging, like, eight points in the first half
+Like, in the second round of the playoffs, you know, he was getting at 16 to 20 in the second half
+But in the first half of games, you know, he was like, six
+And you like, okay, you know
+You know you're gonna have Kyrie in the fourth, but I need you sometimes in the first half, too, brother
+But, like, what he did in game one, it was like, at a western conference
+Finders, you was like
+That was like, oh, shit
+Dallas may be able to not only win the Western Conference finals, they might be able to win the whole thing because of that wild card
+I have so many words to praise Kyrie that I end up with absolutely none, because it's just
+It's so
+He's the most gifted player the NBA has ever seen
+He has the best gifts I've ever seen of any NBA player
+I've never seen a guy in my NBA life that feels better at times shooting with his offhand than he does with his primary hand
+If Kyrie's off in a game with his right hand, he will literally go exclusively to his left hand
+I've never seen nothing like that
+The shot, one thing I'm thinking, the shot that he made versus Denver towards the regular, end of the regular season on Joker
+It's one of the most ridiculous shots I've ever seen in my life
+He's just that special
+Oh, my goodness
+Absolutely
+And by the way, we're both saying the exact same thing, and he's just
+He's remarkable
+I mean, obviously it's a really good feeling when you have it going and you're winning
+That's the most important for me
+But, you know, the appreciation for the fans here, you know, I just try to give them the game back and it was very well received and I just try to reciprocate that by going out and playing games
+I love to play at a high level
+I've been able to be on the floor a lot more during non game days
+My footage felt a lot better
+I didn't have much time to, like, really rep a lot last year because I had to make sure that I could be on the floor running around or putting, you know, much, you know, pounding on the floor with my foot
+So I've had a lot of opportunity to, like, get on the floor, see me for every game out on the floor, working on my game, working on my craft
+So that that's helped out a lot, too, and try to stay consistent with my shot, same shot every time and just work, work, work, work, work
+The fourth when they cut it to eight and
+Yeah
+I mean, obviously the long ball in our game is definitely a momentum shifter, you know, so, you know, obviously cam got it going and I hit a couple threes and cut it to, I think, eleven before they eight
+They got the eight
+They got the eight at the end of the third and they got the eight early in the fourth
+So just trying to make my mark, see if I can get it going, too
+You got to be able to score in this league as well
+You know, you got to be able to stop, but you got to keep scoring, too
+And I was able to
+I was able to get a hot streak
+Well, I don't never have to lean on it, because I can do so much
+I can score at any level on the floor
+You know, basically, once I cross half court, you know, I can score in the post, I can score off pick and rolls, I can score off the ball of cutting or being a recipient of my teammates making a play for me
+But, you know, being able to have a growth mindset and be able to work on things that the league is changing, too
+You know, the league is a heavy three point shooting league
+I'm not a, you know, one of those guys that want to go out there and shoot, you know, 12, 14, 15 threes a game, but I want to be respected, and teams have to play me from the outside
+I know that's still kind of one thing that teams still want to be like, okay, if you have to give up something, we much rather shoot the ball from outside
+But, you know, shooting the long ball and also making my free throws, that's very important for me this season, in the last few seasons, obviously, which I could give
+First of all, I just told him, happy to have you back, man
+Congrats and happy to have you back out there
+And obviously it's going, you know, first action in so many months, you know, legs and your lungs is gonna be the first thing to go
+But I thought he was great in the minutes that he was out there
+It was great to have him back
+Last two second game
+Thomas has had a big swirl night on you guys
+Just curious in your opinions of Kim as an emerging young score
+He does that to everybody
+Last question
+How long? Nine out of ten
+At your age and with your
+Not very long
+Not very long
+I'm on the other side, obviously, at a hill, so I'm not gonna play another 21 years
+That's the damn sure, but not very long
+I don't know when that door will close as far as when I retire, but I don't have much time left
+Thanks, Ljdem
+First of all, you tip your hat to them
+Defending champions, super, super, great team, super well coached, and you tip your hats
+I mean, they made the plays down the stretch, you know, to win this series, you know, so you get credit with
+Credit is due, that's for sure
+No, I just want to get home to the family, honestly
+Start looking at the schedule
+Obviously, I got, you know, my son, one of my boys, is just trying to decide if he's going to enter the draft or go back to school
+I got another kid that's playing au ball right now
+My daughter's playing volleyball, and my wife is doing so many great things
+So it's about family right now
+And then in a couple months, I gotta go to Vegas for training camp, so I gotta rest my body for USAB
+But that's kind of the initial thoughts
+I don't know
+I haven't given much thought lately
+Obviously, I thought about it in the past, but then of the day, the kid
+The kid has to do what he wants to do, and I don't even want to say kid no more
+The young man will decide what he wants to do and how he wants his career to go
+So I just think the fact that we're even having a conversation is pretty cool in the sense of that, but we'll see what happens
+I don't have an answer to your first question, to be honest
+Haven't given it much thought
+Obviously, at some point, I'll sit down with rich, my agent, and sit down with my family and see what's best
+What's best for my career
+So we cross that when we need to
+How taxing is very taxing, mentally, physically, spiritually, everything
+I mean, to be able to just play this game alone and then to try to play at a higher level is very taxing
+It's a lot of dedication, a lot of hard work and a lot of long hours
+So, you know, it's very taxing
+But, you know, it's rewarding because you, if you love the game and you love the process and you love being great, then you don't mind, you don't mind taking the tax on your body and your mental and your psyche and things of that nature that comes with it
+So it's okay
+No, because we lost
+I don't, I don't, I'm not a participation guy
+We lost and, you know, you move on and see how you can get better
+But, you know, our season has been derailed all season with just like injuries and guys in and out and, you know, I talked about it all year
+He was around us all year
+I said, I don't, but it's hard to say who we are, what we can be because we have yet to be whole
+I think we was only probably whole maybe one or two times this year, and I know one of them was during the in season tournament
+We got whole and we showed what we was capable of doing, but we were just hit with injuries after injuries, after injuries, and it was just hard to, it was hard to come back from that
+Mike, overcome with emotion, is exactly how I would describe LeBron's reaction as he shares a hug with Kyrie
+We'll get in a minute
+But he is still crying tears of joy
+Lebron
+No, no worries, Kyrene
+LeBron, as soon as that buzzer sounded, your emotions let loose
+Can you describe what you're feeling right now?
+Oh, LeBron, you did what no other team had been able to do, coming back from a three to one deficit in the finals
+And to do that, you had to win twice in a place that proved too much for so many teams
+What did you find in game five here?
+Well, she, in a few minutes on the podium
+How do you cope with that when you have games like that you guys usually win? Well, you cope with it by understanding it's just one game and looking at the opportunity we have on Tuesday force a game seven
+Obviously
+You know, for myself, I want to do whatever it takes to help our team win and I haven't been able to do that the last two
+So hopefully I could do a better job coming in on Tuesday
+We all as a unit can do a better job and
+And we'd be fine
+I thought he was great
+I mean, you tip your hat off to a guy like that
+I mean he made his seven threes
+I don't know if it was any of them
+Not contested, hand in his face, falling, step backs off dribble
+You know, I'm okay with that
+We're okay with that
+I mean, you know, you tip your head to a guy who makes shots like that and he's the guy that can do it in our league
+He's the best shooter in our league
+So that's not what we lost
+I mean, we give up
+We give up 18 fast break points, you know, we give up 15 2nd chance points
+You know, Steph was special, obviously, but, you know, him hitting those step back threes is not why we lost the game
+Nah, I feel confident because I'm the best player in the world
+That's simple
+A few things there
+So, like with the three ball, we've seen it so often now, no lead is really safe
+Think back to early in your career
+I came in the league in 0607
+I played no minutes my first two years
+Yeah, but you know what? If we had a 19 point lead going to the fourth, I might get all twelve minutes of garbage time
+For sure people would clear their benches
+This was 15 years ago
+For sure people would clear their benches with a 17 point lead in the fourth
+Nine minutes to go
+You can't do that anymore
+It's interesting you bring up Steph, because
+A long history of great players that have impacted the game, and you can see a lineage between different skill sets
+Right
+Michael to Kobe
+Right
+You can see that
+I don't know that there's been a player that has influenced the game more than Steph
+And you can certainly point to Hardin for sure in that era
+Damian Lillard, for sure
+But you're right
+It started with Steph
+Sure
+I have an arm sleeve because of Alan Ivanhe, like, no bullshit
+Listen, no bullshit
+And Steph, I think he changed the influence with Steph, I think, is like, he fundamentally changed how we viewed how the game should be played with the three point shot, do you think? Cause part of the Steph thing in this three point revolution for a fan is that we have now simplified the NBA
+All right, we're just gonna shoot a bunch of threes
+My question to you, going back to that basketball intelligence piece, does the game require more basketball intelligence now or does it require less than when you first started
+Alright, guys, if you like that video, please hit that subscribe button
+Thank you for watching
+We'll be back soon
+I'm obsessed with it, with winter bus
+And what makes me have sleepless nights is when you don't have everyone that feels the same way on your club
+Like, it's times where I wish I was, like a tennis player or a golfer, where it was literally like, look in the mirror, mother is you versus you
+There's no pressure
+There's no pressure at all
+I've been getting pressure since I was ten years old
+I don't think there's no pressure for me because I'm doing something that I love to do, that's play the game of basketball
+I think your surroundings, growing up, turns you into a dog
+It's just in me, man
+I love competing
+I love winning
+I love just, like, playing the game
+Cause, I mean, I know at some point I ain't gonna be able to play it no more
+Well, at that level, every season is like a movie, and I'll just
+I'm, like, living in it like I'm the star in the movie
+Like, I feel like Batman, Black Panther, all of them
+Not only did I wanted to inspire to be a basketball player and or a football player professionally, to get my mom out of the situation, I wanted to have kids early to prove to my father that the way you did it was the absolute wrong way to do it
+And I wanted to break the mold to where I want to be there and give him all the life skills I want to, you know, tell him, this is what your dad went through
+This is how you approach it
+This is how you go through it
+Whenever I have a kid, not only is it going to be a junior, I'm going to do everything that this man didn't do
+They're going to experience things that I didn't experience
+Only that I could do is give them the blueprint, and it's up to them to take their own course
+Whenever that time happens, all you can do and hope at the end of the road is that you've given your kids enough life lessons to where when it's time for them to live their life, then they can flourish on their own
+I wouldn't pick my kids to stop playing ball, but I will stop ball to make sure my kids are straight
+Everyone is so happy when we all on the same level
+Exactly
+And as soon as you able to become a little successful with anything in life, even as a kid, even as a 14 year old, 15 year old, people envy that
+Of course I changed
+I'm trying to better myself
+Why haven't you changed? And that's the things that you have to deal with
+Even as a kid growing up playing ball, I knew when I got drafted as an 18 year old kid that I could play the game of basketball and play it at a high level, even against grown men
+One thing I didn't know is that the success I would have, I prayed on the success
+I worked my tail off for the success, but had no idea the success I had
+And it's just been very humbling and gratifying
+The best teacher in life is experience, and I think over the course of my career, I've just gotten better with every facet of my game
+There were times where I didn't really have a low post game
+I wasn't a low post threat
+There was times where I wasn't a threat from the mid range
+There was times where I wasn't a threat from the outside
+There were times where you could literally just try to bait me into doing things that I wasn't great at
+For me, I always told myself, I'm going to commit to the game
+I'm going to train, I'm going to prepare myself physically, mentally, spiritually, to give to the game
+If you want to be great, it's a very, very small number of people who get the opportunity to do what we do and inspire people all over the world
+For me, I'm trying to push the limit
+What's the limit? I don't know
+I hope
+I don't know
+I hope I never see it
+To feel that adversity, to feel that tension is what brings out the best in us
+You know, your whole motivation, besides trying to win the game, obviously, is to shutting up the opposing fans and opposing crowd
+I set out a goal two years
+When I came back to bring a championship to the city, I gave everything that I had
+I poured my heart, my blood, my sweat, my tears to this game
+And against all odds, against all odds
+I don't know why we want to take the hardest road
+I don't know why the man above gives me the hardest road, but it's nothing man above gonna put you in situations that you can't handle
+And I just kept that same positive attitude
+Like, instead of saying, why me saying, this is what he want me to do, I'm true to the game, and I know what I bring to the table
+And I came back for a reason
+I came back to bring a championship to our city
+I knew what I was capable of doing
+I knew what I learned in the last couple years that I was gone
+And when I came back, I knew
+I had the right ingredients and the right blueprint to help this franchise get back to it, to a place that we've never been
+At the end of the day, the man above has given me a guide giving ability, and I just try to take full advantage of it, win, lose or draw, no matter what
+At the end of my career, you would never get someone to say that he didn't leave it out on the floor
+Wins and losses and ties and things that happens throughout the course of life, it's just how you pick yourself up
+It's how you continue to get better and better
+And the difference between me and a lot of other people, or a lot of people play the game of basketball, they get so in depth and so deep about, you know, putting everything in the game of basketball
+I'm just
+I'm true to who I am
+I'm true to my family, I'm true to my teammates
+I'm true to my craft
+And then at the end of the day, whatever happens, happens
+So, you know, I could care less about a finals record
+I could care less if I don't, you know, play well at this game or, you know, if my teammates don't show up because I know how much I put into the game, and nobody can ever take that away from me
+As far as being an NBA player, how to approach it, how your body and things of that nature, you know, how do you continue to, you know, stay consistent? I've learned all of that on my own, all on the fly, because I never had somebody that I could go to, and nobody ever kind of lended their hand to me
+So I've kind of just figured it out
+I never cheated the game
+I never cheated the game
+I never cheated the process
+But for me, off the floor, I think me having my own school in my hometown, me inspiring kids all over the world, being active in politics at times or social justice and things that goes on in regular life, those are the things that I hope people talk about as well, because those are things that last forever
+I hope that we've instilled enough vision in them that they look and see the passion that we put into what we do on a day to day basis
+You just hope that you've done enough
+I've had goals throughout my whole career, you know, on the court
+I wanted to be the rookie of the year
+My rookie year
+I wanted to be an all star
+I wanted to win championships
+I wanted to be the mvp of the league
+I wanted to be defensive player of the year
+I wanted to lead the league
+And assist
+I never, ever was like, I want to break the all time scoring record
+I've always prided myself on saying I want to be the greatest ever played this game
+And that came from a motivation to myself
+My drive to be the greatest of all time
+Every so many years, they come out with a new roller coaster, and we've spent plenty of times going up and just testing out the new roller coaster
+Many highs, many loops, how fast it is, whatever the case may be, and you get off just feeling so much excitement and just feeling alike
+I want to do it again, and I think my career has been like that
+You know, your stomach drop at times, you're excited, you're yelling
+Sometimes you can't hold your
+You can't breathe, but you always want to do it again
+It's been a pleasure and an honor so far in my career within these 20 years, that through the ups, through the downs, through the ins and outs, through the trials and tribulations, I've always had maintain me, and I've done it my way
+I didn't want to emulate anybody
+I wanted to give praise to everyone that came before me
+I wanted to acknowledge that I'm a historian of the game, but I didn't want to emulate nobody
+I wanted to be myself
+You know, if you stay true to yourself, I think you always feel better about the outcome
+Win, lose, a draw in life
+You feel that you're never going to make it out
+You feel like the statistics are built up against you
+You feel like the system is built against you to not succeed
+You feel like there's no way that you're ever gonna have an opportunity for your dreams to become a reality
+I had dreams every day of playing in the NBA
+I had dreams every day of being an inspiration to so many people
+I always felt it was my job and my responsibility to come out and play the game at a high level and be as great as I can be, because there is a kid in the inner city somewhere that's looking for inspiration, and that's gonna need it and maybe get it from me
+So I'm LeBron James from Akron, Ohio, from the inner city
+I'm not even supposed to be here
+That's enough
+Every night I walk into the locker room, I see a number six with James on the back
+I'm blessed
+So what everybody say about me off the court don't matter
+I ain't got no words
+Jackson's
+He get a champ because in game, not many guys in NBA history have done it, so it's rare
+Yeah, that was the first time he did it in the game
+So we were super impressed
+He was super casual with it, but he has that
+He has that ability, obviously
+Of course
+Yeah, of course
+The game dictates itself when you play the game
+However, the chips may fall
+And today we had an opportunity to bump the lead up in the third and started fourth
+We kind of kept going early on, then we got to shut down, so that's good
+It all depends on how I'm feeling tomorrow
+You know, obviously I feel like I just played a game
+Obviously I prepared that way
+So that's out for tomorrow
+I guess absolutely helps
+Every minute counts
+They were to get back here and get going on the treatment, my prep to start preparing my body, hopefully for tomorrow night
+It's always been mutual respect and love
+Every time I come here and play here throughout my career, they showed me nothing but love, even throughout the battles and the whole season
+Whatever the case may be, these fans are always appreciative of myself and I just try to always give it back to them when I step on your floor
+It's not always their job to come in and carry a big goal to scoring, but we know the ability of Spence
+He can get it going
+We saw what he can do
+We know TP can get it going at times, you know, especially from the perimeter
+But tonight he was super aggressive
+In the end, you know, Max
+When Max has gotten his number card, he's always stayed ready, even as a young kid
+We love that
+He's always ready to come in and give us a punch
+So that was good to get him going tonight for sure
+Of the best players I ever played with
+Obviously, his iq was out of this world, and I was very lucky to get the team up with him at that point here
+When I was in LA, obviously being in LA and him coming to the Lakers, I was ecstatic about that
+I knew what we could accomplish together
+Doe always talked about if he ever teamed up with me, he knew we could win a championship
+We did that
+And then just being a fierce competitor throughout my career, when he was in Boston, obviously our battles that we had when I was in Cleveland and going to Miami, guys, he got everything out of his career and more, you know, two time champion, multiple all stars
+A couple years, he maybe land a league and assist or was up there
+Just a spectacular player
+Well, I don't know where it came from, but at the end of the day, Bronnie's his own man
+He has some tough decisions to make, and when he's ready to make those decisions, he'll let us all know
+But as his family, he'll support whatever he does
+Last question
+Don't turn the ball over because that fuels home teams for sure
+It gets the crowd involved
+We got a defensive rebound and we're able to stop them in one possession
+We got a clean glass, and then we got to keep them up to three point line because they shoot the ball particularly well
+Three point line and get back in transition
+I'm on fire
+LeBron, last question
+I said at the beginning of the show, I wish that I would have had this moment, the chance to pass up Kareem
+You now pass up Kareem Abdujibar
+I know what my attitude would have been
+Does this now make you the greatest player of all time? Are you now the goat? You know, I'm gonna let everybody else, you know, decide who that is or just talk about it, but it's great
+It's great barbershop talk
+I want to hear you say, listen, big fella
+Listen, big fella
+I want to hear you say it
+Brown bro
+Me personally, say it with me
+I'm gonna take myself
+I'm gonna take myself against anybody that's ever played this game, you know, but everyone's gonna have their favorite
+Everyone's gonna, you know, decide who they
+Who their favorite is
+But I know what I've brought to the table
+I know what I bring to the table every single night and what I can
+What I can do out on this floor
+So, you know, I always feel like I'm the best ever played his game
+But, you know, there's so many other great ones, and I'm happy to just be a part of their
+Part of their journey
+I appreciate you
+Rod, what wine you drinking tonight? I know you're drinking some good vino
+Yeah, we drinking some good vino tonight
+And we're going to have a little low boats on tap, too, so
+Yeah, it's going up tonight for sure
+Congrats
+Congrats
+All right, big fella
+Love you, baby
+I can't say what I've laughed
+Can't say what I'm saying
+I can't say what I'm laughing at, either
+You don't want to play with me, then? That's not exactly right
+Me, take your ass on that
+Stay on that board
+I know
+Oh, this is going to be cool right here
+Go ahead
+It's you, Katie
+It's all you
+All right
+That's must see
+Five minutes
+Come on, LeBron, just make him sweat it out
+Just make him sweat it out
+There you go
+There you go
+I'm gonna help Skadi out
+Katie just needs size right now to me, I think
+Remember last time? Remember last time, LeBron said he needed sides for the 6th guy
+He needs sides
+I agree
+I agree
+That worked out nicely
+I mean, you can't let people run through the lane
+Ask somebody defending back then
+Chess, not checkers
+Hey, I say, hey, when somebody want out, you let them go
+Don't let them come back
+I'm with you, KDE
+That's how I cut my hair off
+I was like, I'm gone
+Who's that?
+He got traded
+He's healthy now
+Hey, Lebron
+Oh, my God
+Trust me, right now, he's rubbing some ice hot on that thing
+He playing the next game
+No questions
+Yeah, you can hide your face like LeBron's been doing
+And you were like, you know what? I'm smarter
+I'm wiser even than I was four years ago
+You know what? That's not for me to decide
+That's for everybody else
+People are always gonna argue that
+So, like, I viewed it as a moment of maturity
+Right? Like, why is it that you took a step back in that moment, not saying that you changed your mind or any of that?
+Yeah
+And then people just move on
+No more arguments
+Because it's right now I would say, yeah, I mean, I'm living, always living a president
+I don't know how frustrated I was after a loss
+In the past
+I think we played as well as tonight
+We played as well as we've played all post season and we gave ourselves a chance possession after possession after possession, and that was just some plays that was kind of taken away from us
+Simple as that
+What do you mean, what's my version?
+How do I know that?
+No
+They asked me if I talked to junior about it
+I said no already
+I knew it was a tie game
+We was down one
+George Hill went up, he made the first one
+We got the offensive rebound
+You know, I thought we were all aware of what was going on
+That's my view
+So I don't know what Junior was thinking
+I don't know the question you're trying to ask
+I'm not sure
+No
+I don't know his state of mind
+Keep the main thing, the main thing, keep executing the game is not ever, ever over until it's double zeroes, which we see up there
+So we just kept fighting, kept getting defensive, stops, making shots
+I mean, it's very important
+Obviously, you know, we know where we stand right now in the standings, but, you know, health has always been our kryptonite, but we're starting to get healthy
+Cam made his 1st, 1st game back today in 14 games
+So great to have him back and then everybody else shipped in for sure
+I mean, he's an absolute beast
+Defensive player of the year for a reason is going to continue to be great
+So, you know, I've always felt like it's my job to continue to show the next generation away, show them the blueprint, no matter, regardless of sport
+So it was a pleasure for me, and I hope it was for him as well
+So, you know, just two kids just trying to be great
+I appreciate it
+Guys, back to you
+Do it
+Got the names
+Lt will do an intro for you
+Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome LeBron James
+Before I get started on the speech that I have, I want to acknowledge autolyze that was lost Sunday morning
+Alyssa Altobelli, John Altobelli, Carrie Altobelli, Peyton Chester, Sarah Chester, Christina Mouser, Ara Zalbania, Gianna Bryant, and Kobe Bryant
+Now, I got something written down
+They asked me to kind of stay on course, or whatever the case may be, but Laker Nation, man, I would be selling y'all short if I read off
+The first thing that come to mind, man, is all about family
+And as I look around this arena, we're all grieving, we're all hurt, we're all heartbroken
+But when we're going through things like this, the best thing you can do is lean on the shoulders of your family
+And from Sunday morning all the way to this point, now, I heard about Laker Nation before I got here last year, about how much of a family it is
+And that is absolutely what I've seen this whole week
+Not only from the players, not only from the coaching staff, not only from the organization, but from everybody, everybody that's here
+This is really, truly, truly a family
+And I know Kobe and Gianna and Vanessa and everybody, thank you guys from the bottom of their heart
+As Kobe said
+Now, I know at some point we will have a memorial for Kobe, but I look at this, I look at this as a celebration tonight
+This is a celebration of the 20 years of the blood, the sweat, the tears, the broken down body that getting up, sitting down, everything, the countless hours, the determination to be as great as he could be
+Tonight we celebrate the kid that came here at 18 years of age, retired at 38, and became probably the best dad that we've seen over the last three years
+Mandy, tonight is a celebration before we get to play
+Love y'all, man
+Kobe is a brother to me
+And from the time I was in high school to watching him afar, to getting in this league at 18, watching him up close, all the battles that we had throughout my career, the one thing that we always shared is that determination to just want to win and just want to be great
+And the fact that I'm here now means so much to me
+I want to continue along with my teammates, to continue his legacy, not only for this year, but as long as we can play the game of basketball that we love, because that's what Kobe bly will want
+So in the words of Kobe Bryant, mamba out, but in the words of us not forgotten, live on brother