LOS ANGELES — LeBron James was nervous.



Of all the emotions he’d felt during this agonizing week — fatigue from those nights of broken sleep after the helicopter carrying nine souls came crashing down in Calabasas on Sunday; a deep sadness that was shared with millions of Kobe Bryant fans who grieved the loss of the Lakers legend and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna — this was a new one for James.



Especially considering it involved a basketball game.



All those decades of hoops domination that came so naturally for the kid from Akron, Ohio, of building his own legacy as one of the best to ever do it with the same sort of steely drive and dedication that they call the “Mamba Mentality” in these parts, couldn’t help him when it came time to be the spokesman for all this profound pain. But when he did it, taking the microphone at center court of the Staples Center with the world watching as tipoff against Portland neared...