LeBron James on Cavs: ‘We’re going to be better’

LeBron James said Monday that he is confident the Cleveland Cavaliers will beat the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night because he has not played a game since March 25, when he left for the Lakers after their championship run.

James was sidelined for the final month of the regular season with a strained left Achilles tendon.

He will miss the remainder of the playoffs after he returned from the disabled list last month.

He said his absence will be a factor in the outcome of Wednesday night’s game.

“We’re a little bit more confident than we were, I’ll tell you that,” James said.

“We’ve got a little more confidence than we did last week.

But I’ll be honest, we didn’t play well last week and it’s still a little early in the season.

It’s still too early.

We’ve got to get our feet wet and we’ll see how it goes.”

James missed the first three games of the season with the injury, which forced him to miss 12 of the Cavs’ first 13 games.

The Cavaliers were 3-6 in his absence.

“You get used to it, it’s going to come to you,” James told reporters.

“But we’re going with the flow, we’re not going to change our style of play.

We’re going where the chips are.

We want to be good on both ends of the floor, so we’ll keep playing the same way.”

James said he has seen the game from different angles and said he is not surprised the Lakers have a good chance to win.

“I know what they’re going through,” James, 30, said.

“…

I’m not surprised at all.

You just have to go out there and play.

I know that.”

The Cavs (10-7) are 3-1 since James returned from a 10-day disabled list in February.

James averaged 24.4 points and 12.3 rebounds during that span.

He is averaging 20.4 in his last six games.