No jealousy between Davis and me: James

ORLANDO (Florida) • LeBron James believes an absence of locker-room jealousy is the key to his successful partnership with Anthony Davis, as the Los Angeles Lakers bear down on a record-equalling 17th National Basketball Association (NBA) championship.

Davis joined the Lakers last year from the New Orleans Pelicans, and has played a crucial role in guiding them back to the NBA Finals for the first time in 10 years after missing the play-offs in 2018-2019.

On Wednesday, he excelled with 34 points, nine rebounds and five assists as the Lakers demolished the Miami Heat 116-98 in Game 1.

James, meanwhile, added 25 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists against his former team to open the best-of-seven series.

The James-Davis double act has provided the Lakers with the team's most potent axis since Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal were leading the team to three consecutive NBA titles between 2000 and 2002.

But, while the late Bryant and O'Neal's relationship was undercut with tension, James says his partnership with Davis is different.

"We're not jealous of each other," he said on Thursday ahead of yesterday's Game 2. "I think that's the best thing. In professional sports, you have guys that join forces to become alpha males. That's what they call them.

"Two guys that have been dominant in a specific sport on their own respective teams, and they get together and they talk about how dominant they can be...

"I believe jealousy creeps in a lot. And that is the absolute contrary of what we are. We know who we are. We know what we're about. We want the best, every day, both on and off the floor, for one another."

Davis, 27, agreed, saying he had never once considered the possibility that envy could destabilise the Lakers' locker room.

"I'm not jealous of him. He's not jealous of me," he said. "When you've got two guys who are very selfless and want to win as bad as both of us want to, the rest just takes care of itself."

Davis said a free flow of ideas and opinions characterised his partnership with James, adding: "When we watch films or even during the course of a game, if I did something wrong, he tells me. If he does something wrong, I tell him.

"I think that's what makes it work, knowing that we trust one another to make reads, to make calls."

Davis, however, does admit to envying James' three NBA championship rings.

"I want a ring, and he has three of them," he said. "Hopefully I don't have to be envious of that much longer."

Miami point guard Goran Dragic, who suffered a torn plantar fascia to his left foot in Game 1, and forward Bam Adebayo, who suffered a neck strain, are both doubtful for Game 2.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS

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LA LAKERS V MIAMI

Game 2: StarHub Ch 201, 9am