Waiting to interview LeBron James with the throng of reporters congregated inside the visitors’ locker room of the Barclays Center after the Cleveland Cavaliers’ loss to the Brooklyn Nets last Thursday is somewhat comical. Unless you choose to converse with the other members of the media, the other option is to watch the process that James goes through to get ready to depart after the game.
Toweled and tatted, James has “Akron” written in script on his right shoulder, “Est. 1984” is on his left one. He first greases his hair with something like Royal Crown, the kind in the round, green two-inch can with the silver top that my dad gave me as a kid to make my hair wavy. He then brushes it, but with the wrong kind of brush needed to make it wavy. He puts on a black do-rag and begins to dress. Either he or teammate Kevin Love, who sat opposite him, right behind me, sprays on some aerosol deodorant that I inadvertently inhale. It makes me cough, gag. I have to hold my breath for a moment until it dissolves into the air.
James greases his body in some kind of cocoa buttery stuff as we wait to ask him questions. He uses another substance on his face. He’s singing something unrecognizable, stops, and then moments later, starts up with “Love TKO” by Teddy Pendergrass.
James repeated, “I think I better let it go,” part of the song’s lyrics, as he sang along with the chorus several times. Did these lyrics match his thoughts about his team after losing to the second worst team in the Eastern Conference? He’d been sending out messages in quotes the last few weeks. He said he would like to one day team up with Carmelo Anthony of the Knicks and Chris Paul of the Clippers. He also unfriended the Cavaliers on Twitter. Was this song another message?
The room is quiet, although there is some light chatter. The Cavs’ public relations guy announces that J.R. Smith is now available to be interviewed. He’s several lockers away, but no one moves, so as not to lose their position for when James is ready to speak. I had eased my way in close, so close that my hand and recorder could be seen to his left, your right during his interview clip replayed all day on Sports Center.
I wanted to know if it was tough to watch his team fall behind early in the fourth quarter while he sat the bench, and will their chances of winning a championship be underestimated after losing to the Nets, and now the Houston Rockets on Tuesday night, blowing a 20-point lead, a game that James sat out? And what will they have to do to prepare themselves to be ready for the NBA playoffs that begin next month?
“Yes, it is tough, but that is what a team is for. Guys gotta be able to pick it up, no matter who is in the lineup, no matter who is out on the floor,” said James. And about being underestimated, and their preparation for the playoffs? “No, I don’t think so. We are going to continue to work on habits, continue to get into the film room to get ready for the post season.”
If the Nets, who play the Cavs Thursday in Cleveland for the last time this season, can run half-court sets and get advantages by pushing the ball, as described by their interim head coach, Tony Brown, then so can the other seven playoff teams hoping to beat the Cavs, the Eastern Conference one seed. The Cavs will be underestimated and undermined. This loss should be their wake-up call.
Brooklyn, who will watch the post season at home this year, the first time since the 2012-13 season, will play the Knicks for the last time this season on Friday at Madison Square Garden, and will also play the injury-plagued New Orleans Pelicans at home, the Barclays Center, on Sunday.