Melissa Rohlin
FOX Sports NBA Writer
As LeBron James walked out of the Lakers‘ locker room wearing black sweatpants and a black sweatshirt after Game 2 of his team’s first-round playoff series against Minnesota on Tuesday, a staff member lightly teased him that he was dressed more casually than usual.
James laughed.
Then he joked that he had anticipated he was going to be exhausted, so he neededto dress comfortably.
James was well-aware that in order to bounce back from the Lakers’ 0-1 deficit, he was going to need to pour every ounce of his energy into combating the Timberwolves‘ front line of the 7-foot-1 Rudy Gobert, 6-9 Jaden McDaniels and 6-9 Julius Randle, helping an LA team that was outmatched in size and strength not be outmatched in physicality.
The Lakers responded to their 22-point drubbing in Game 1 by leading by as many as 22 points in Game 2 en route to a 94-85 win, tying the series at 1-1. They cameprepared for this rock fight, after previously showing up with just sand in their fists.
If you looked closely, there were signs things would be different.
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