Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Lakers described last weekend’s N.B.A. All-Star break as an opportunity for a much-needed reset, with the hope that they could ultimately make a playoff push after spending a few days apart. None of it sounded very convincing.
But when the team reconvened for practice on Wednesday morning, LeBron James said his level of intensity had been “activated,” as if he were a superhero who had flipped a switch. He does not usually activate himself this early in the season, he said, but the Lakers need all of him now — in large part because they had lost so much ground when he was sidelined for about a month with a groin injury.