He might be only 47 days from being 40 years old, but LeBron James continues to show the world his greatness and why he’s still great.
With superstar forward Anthony Davis in foul trouble for most of the game, James turned back the clock and did what he’s done his entire career and morphed into the best player on the court by scoring 35 points, 12 rebounds and 14 assists to lead the Lakers to a 128-123 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. With the win, the Lakers improve to 7-4 and have won their first six home games of the season for the first time since 2011 when they were coming off back-to-back championships.
After putting up 21 points, 12 rebounds and 13 assists in the Lakers win over the 76ers on Friday and 19 points, 10 rebounds and 16 assists in their win over Toronto Sunday, James has now produced a triple-double in the Lakers last three games. As a result, the NBA’s oldest player extended his record of being the oldest player in league history to produce three consecutive triple-doubles.
“I’ve been doing this my whole career to be able to play multiple positions and whatever the team needs at that point in time I’m able to go into that,” James said during his on-court interview with ESPN after the game.
No matter if that’s playing point guard or if its playing center of its setting pick and rolls at the time and playing the four position, whatever the teams needs I just try to be their for them and be on time and on target.”
On a night where three NBA players went for 45 or more points, James came out the gate blazing scoring 20 first half points while going 7-10 from the field and 4-5 from three-point land which included a highlight reel buzzer beating three to end the first quarter. Although the Grizzlies would come back from a 15-point deficit to take a nine-point lead, James while going 13 of 22 from the field would log the most minutes in the game while leading the Lakers to their third consecutive victory.
Even the biggest LeBron hater must be amazed by what he’s doing as he legitimately is still one of the top ten players in the world despite being in year 22 and about to turn 40. If you think it an exaggeration just look at the numbers, James is averaging 23.2 points, 7.7 rebounds and 8.9 assists per game at this stage of his career. Another eye-catching part of his stat line for the season is that the rebounds and assists are above James’s career average and he’s shooting a career-high 44 percent from beyond the arc.
“Preparation and a lot of work go into this as I come in here every day five hours before the game starts, one of the first ones to get on the court as I put a lot of work into it and it’s all about trusting the work.”
Love him or hate him, LeBron James is doing things we have never seen a player do this late into his career while showing everyone how great he is and leading the Lakers to victories.
