The pressure was on Mike Brown yet again on Tuesday night, his new-look Los Angeles Lakers finally taking the floor in the regular season for all the basketball world to see.

Brown and the Lakers know they’ll all be deemed failures if they don’t unseat the champs and earn the Lakers’ 17th crown. And Brown, whose team did little to relieve any of the pressure with a helter-skelter 99-91 loss to the Dirk Nowitzki-less Dallas Mavericks in the opener, swears he’s ready for this ride that has officially begun.

“I think (former baseball manager) Tony LaRussa said it best one time,” Brown told USA TODAY Sports. “He said ‘Pressure is lack of preparation.’ So I feel like I’m prepared. I feel like we’re prepared, so maybe that helps out.

via Sam Amick of USA Today