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The Lakers went into the playoffs as the
seventh seed but were expected to make a deep run with James and
fellow All-Star Anthony Davis back from ankle and groin injuries
respectively, but Davis lasted less than six minutes on
Thursday.
Suns guard Devin Booker scored 47 points in a 113-100 win to
take the series 4-2 with James suffering elimination in the
first round of the playoffs for the first time in his career.
"The one thing that bothers me more than anything is we never
got an opportunity to see our team at full strength because of
injury, because of COVID or because of something going on with
our ball club this year," James told reporters.
"We could never fully get into a rhythm and never see the full
potential of what we were capable of. We obviously fell short of
our goal but we tried to do everything to be as good as we could
be under the circumstances."
James, 36, missed a chunk of the end of the regular season due
to an ankle sprain and he said the last 18 months, which
included a long stay in the NBA bubble last season, had been
"mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally draining".
"Every team has to deal with it obviously but us and (last
year's finalists) Miami, going the long haul in the bubble and
then coming right back short notice to this season, it's been
very draining," he added.
A three-times Olympic medallist, including two golds in 2008 and
2012, James hinted he would not be playing for the U.S. at the
Tokyo Games. Instead, he promoted his movie 'Space Jam: A New
Legacy' that is set for a July release.
"Nah, I think I'm going to play for the Tune Squad this summer
instead of the Olympics," he said with a grin.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Davis)
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