LeBron James believes the Lakers have improved ‘every day,’ Anthony Davis optimistic they can correct issues from game one

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Lakers didn’t get the result they wanted from the first game of their 2019-20 campaign, but after a couple days of practice to prepare for their home opener against the Utah Jazz on Friday night, LeBron James believes they can get back on the right track.

“It’s great,” James said of the brief break between games after the team’s shootaround on Friday morning. “To go over the things that we could have done better during the Clipper game, but also just continue to get our system in place offensively and defensively... It was great for us.”

He believes the team has made progress on both ends. Not just over the last two days, but over the entirety of training camp, despite some scheduling-related hiccups.

”I think every day we’ve gotten better. It was a tough trip for us when we went abroad because of the practice times and things of that nature so we kind of fell behind a little bit, but I feel like since we’ve been back we’ve been able to make progress,” James said.

Over those two days, Anthony Davis says the team has spent time watching film of their errors on the defensive end from game one, as well as looking for ways to improve their offensive and defensive rebounding, as well as both defending and getting out in transition.

“Those were the emphases coach wanted us to focus on,” Davis said. “I’m excited to go out tonight and try to have those things corrected.”

Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

For his part, James continued to push back on the idea that the Lakers even played that poorly in their loss to the LA Clippers.

“We played pretty good basketball in our first game, we just had some mistakes that we can clean up,” James said. “There are going to be games where we play better than others as we continue to learn each other and things of that nature. There will maybe be possessions where we wish we could have done things better because we’re still trying to feel each other out, but as far as the inconsistent play, I don’t think so.”

As in just about every other instance of their brief tenure together so far, Davis remained in lockstep with his fellow star.

“It’s all things that we can correct,” Davis said. “That’s a good thing, if we’re able to correct those things.”

We’ll get our first look at whether or not they can when they face the Jazz in a few hours.

All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.