LeBron ‘humbled’ after he & Davis compared with Bryant & O’Neal

SHOTLIST ONLY. COMPLETE SCRIPT TO FOLLOW VIDEO SHOWS: SOUNDBITES FROM LOS ANGELES LAKERS' LEBRON JAMES, ANTHONY JAMES AND COACH, FRANK VOGEL, SOUNDBITES FROM MIAMI HEAT COACH, ERIK SPOELSTRA AND JIMMY BUTLER. STILL PHOTOGRAPHS FROM GAME 2 OF THE NBA FINALS SHOWS: ORLANDO, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 2, 2020) (NBA ENTERTAINMENT - Broadcasters: MUST COURTESY NBA ENTERTAINMENT. NO RESALE. NO ARCHIVE. MUST COURTESY USA TODAY SPORTS. Digital: NO DIGITAL USE OUTSIDE USA AND CANADA. MUST COURTESY NBA ENTERTAINMENT. NO RESALE. NO ARCHIVE) 1. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LOS ANGELES LAKERS FORWARD, LEBRON JAMES, TALKING ABOUT HIMSELF AND ANTHONY DAVIS BEING COMPARED WITH KOBE BRYANT AND SHAQUILLE O'NEAL, SAYING: "Obviously being at high school and watching the Kobe (Bryant)-Shaq (Shaquille O'Neal) duo was the most dominant duo that I have personally seen in my life from a basketball perspective. And seeing, obviously we knew the force that Shaq brought to the table, but the elegance and force that Kobe played with as well. They were very dominant in what they did on the floor, on both sides of the floor. So, to be in a conversation with those two guys, myself and Anthony... myself and AD - he is going to kill me - myself and AD is just very humbling, because, I mean, I know I grew up watching those guys. I grew up admiring Kobe, obviously, a kid coming straight out of high school. So, I admired him, I was a kid, I got the opportunity and obviously the force that that Shaq played with, so. It's just very humbling. We're happy that we can be even mentioned with those greats." ORLANDO, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 2, 2020) (USA TODAY SPORTS - MUST COURTESY USA TODAY SPORTS) (MUTE) 2. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF LEBRON JAMES AND ANTHONY DAVIES DURING GAME 2 OF THE NBA FINALS BETWEEN LOS ANGELES LAKERS AND MIAMI HEAT 3. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF DAVIES SCORING TWO POINTS 4. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF JAMES ON THE ATTACK ORLANDO, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 2, 2020) (NBA ENTERTAINMENT - Broadcasters: MUST COURTESY NBA ENTERTAINMENT. NO RESALE. NO ARCHIVE. MUST COURTESY USA TODAY SPORTS. Digital: NO DIGITAL USE OUTSIDE USA AND CANADA. MUST COURTESY NBA ENTERTAINMENT. NO RESALE. NO ARCHIVE) 5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LOS ANGELES LAKERS FORWARD, LEBRON JAMES, TALKING ABOUT HIMSELF AND ANTHONY DAVIS BEING COMPARED WITH KOBE BRYANT AND SHAQUILLE O'NEAL, SAYING: "Well, I guess if you look at the sense of the size and the power and the speed that Shaq at his size played with, you could look at my game throughout the course of my career and say that. And then you look at the elegance and the ability to shoot the ball and the ability to play in the pain as well as post up and get to the perimeter… I guess you could say that you can have some of AD's game that could be compared to Kobe's game in that sense. Obviously, all four of us are all different positions. You know, Kobe was a natural 2-guard, I'm kind of a… I don't know, whatever position, Shaq is a center and AD is kind of a hybrid as well. So, but I guess all four of us we have a winning mentality and we just try to make enough plays on the floor throughout the course of the game and that would benefit not only ourselves individually but, for the most important thing, for the better of the team and I can't even believe that we, you know, are up here talking about myself and AD with Kobe and Shaq. I mean, it's just an incredible thing." 6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LOS ANGELES LAKERS FORWARD-CENTER, ANTHONY DAVIS, SAYING: "We both want to make sure that we do whatever it takes to help our team win. And when you have two guys that are selfless ... it's not always going to be pretty. Sometimes we are going to argue, sometimes we're going to have disagreements, but we know it's coming from the right place. When you have two guys who want to win as bad as we do and want to be dominant every single game, you have games like tonight; we're two guys who are able to score the basketball and able to rebound and able to find guys. So, it's rare you see it. We know we have something special with us two and with this team and we're just trying to capitalise on it." 7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LOS ANGELES LAKERS FORWARD, LEBRON JAMES, SAYING: "Myself, coach and AD was not happy with our defensive presence tonight. We know we can be a lot better. We're just… from myself and AD, we're not satisfied with just the win. We want to be great; we want to be great for as close to 48 minutes as possible. And I know I said it after game 1 but I'm extremely excited to watch the film tomorrow as well as a group and see ways we can be better. We're playing against a very dangerous team in Miami where, you know, they have five guys on the floor that are a threat as they've shown tonight. So, we have to continue to stay on our P's and Q's and cross our T's and dot our I's throughout the course of the game and just and, you know, if we have a break-on be able to cover for one another but they do a great job of putting a defence in positions that you may not be accustomed to. So, we definitely was not happy with our performance defensively tonight and we hopefully can be… well we know, not hopefully, we know we'll be better in Game 3." 8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LOS ANGELES HEAD COACH, FRANK VOGEL, SAYING: "You know, particularly on our defensive end, you know, we knew they were going to be different and there was no (Miami Heat Forward-Center) Bam (Adebayo), they bring five three-point shooters and their movement offensive is very difficult to guard no matter who's in uniform. But we definitely have to do a better job in particular on the defensive end. I thought we attacked offensively really well, had one of our… well we had a poor shooting night from perimeter but I like the quality of the shots for the most part and even having a poor shooting night, we still end up with an offensive rating of 136. So, I was pleased with what we did on that end of the floor. Obviously, you can always do better on both sides but defensively we've got to be better." 9. WHITE FLASH 10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LOS ANGELES HEAD COACH, FRANK VOGEL, TALKING ABOUT LEBRON JAMES AND ANTHONY DAVIS. SAYING: "Well, we both, or they both (LeBron James and Anthony Davis) and our whole team attacks the defence and read, you know what I mean, and obviously they both have the ability to score against single coverage so to speak; whatever action you're talking about. But they (James and Davis) are both willing passers. So, sometimes they feed each other, sometimes they're destroying their own man and sometimes they're making the extra pass to the open man. Both have that elite ability to score and to read defence. So, again those two were huge tonight and a big reason for the win." 11. WHITE FLASH 12. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LOS ANGELES HEAD COACH, FRANK VOGEL, SAYING: "It's unbelievable. I mean, the way that they work for each other. Both of them, like you said, playing at such an elite level, both of them extremely determined to win a championship and we're not there yet. We have a long way to go. This is a very resilient basketball team that we're playing. A team that just flew through the East (Conference) with a 15 (wins) and 3 (losses) record and we have great respect for them. But those guys are playing at an extremely high level and hopefully we can get two more wins." 13. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIAMI HEAT HEAD COACH, ERIK SPOELSTRA, SAYING: "Your first question, how did you phrase it? What will it take? Whatever is necessary. It's as simple as that. If you want something badly enough, you're figure it out and our group is extremely stubborn, persistent and we just need to figure out how to overcome this opponent. We respect the quality, the high quality of opponent that we're playing. You've got to figure it out and overcome it." 14. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIAMI HEAT FORWARD, JIMMY BUTLER, SAYING: "That we're never giving up. We're going to fight; we're going to ride with this team until the wheels fall off. It's not over. We're just down 0-2. We've got to do something special. We're capable of it and I wouldn't want to be in the trenches with any other guys expect for the ones that we have." ORLANDO, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 2, 2020) (USA TODAY SPORTS - MUST COURTESY USA TODAY SPORTS) (MUTE) 15. STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF JIMMY BUTLER PLAYING FOR MIAMI HEAT AGAINST THE LOS ANGELES LAKERS ORLANDO, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 2, 2020) (NBA ENTERTAINMENT - Broadcasters: MUST COURTESY NBA ENTERTAINMENT. NO RESALE. NO ARCHIVE. MUST COURTESY USA TODAY SPORTS. Digital: NO DIGITAL USE OUTSIDE USA AND CANADA. MUST COURTESY NBA ENTERTAINMENT. NO RESALE. NO ARCHIVE) 16. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIAMI HEAT FORWARD, JIMMY BUTLER, SAYING: REPORTER, ASKING: "What is it about your group and you that can overcome this kind of adversity and this kind of situation?" "I think we just believe. We believe in one another. We believe in what we put together and we believe in what we do every day but like I said at the beginning of this thing. We've got to play damn near perfect in order to beat those guys over there. We've yet to do it and if we don't do it soon it's not going to be pretty." STORY: LeBron James took another step toward his fourth championship title on Friday (October 2), as the dominant Los Angeles Lakers clinched Game 2 over the Miami Heat 124-114 to extend their lead to 2-0 in the NBA Finals. The Lakers seized the early momentum and put up nine three-pointers in the first two quarters for a 14-point head start at halftime, as Miami struggled to fill the void left by two of their biggest playmakers, point guard Goran Dragic and forward Bam Adebayo, who left Game 1 of the best-of-seven series with injuries and were not able to play on Friday. Sixteen-times All-Star James, the night's leading scorer, put up 33 points with nine rebounds and nine assists, while team mate Anthony Davis continued his stellar run in his first-ever NBA Finals, rolling over Miami's defense for 32 points and 14 rebounds. James and Davis were the first Lakers duo since Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal in 2002 to score more at least 32 points each in an NBA Finals game. James said he was humbled with the comparison and that he and Davis are striving for greatness in every game they play. The Lakers wore their custom "Black Mamba" jerseys in honour of Bryant, the five-times champion Lakers legend who helped define the franchise and died suddenly in a helicopter crash in January. Head coach coach, Frank Vogel was full of praise for James and Davis but emphasised that his side's defensive performance would need to improve and James agreed with that sentiment. The Heat's All-Star forward Jimmy Butler, who had 25 points and 13 assists, said his team mates "believe in what we do every day," despite the uphill battle they face in closing a two-game deficit in the best-of-seven series. The Lakers face the Heat in Game 3 of the NBA Finals inside the league's quarantined "bubble" at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday (October 4). (Production: Tim Hart)

LeBron ‘humbled’ after he & Davis compared with Bryant & O’Neal

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