The Lakers beat the Rockets 132-123 on the road, and the Purple and Gold Army ended a five-game losing streak. James finished with 32 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists and two blocks, and won his third triple-double of the season, reaching a career total of 36,001 points, becoming the youngest Mr. 36,000 in history. In addition, James, who is about to turn 37, has contributed 30+ performances in a single game for five consecutive games, becoming the first player in history to be able to do so.
Suffering from injuries and epidemics, the Los Angeles Lakers are short of manpower, and when the team is in crisis, James once again carries the team on his shoulders. In today's game against the Houston Rockets, the 36-year-old had a triple-double of 32 points, 11 boards and 11 assists, completing another glorious milestone while leading the team to victory.
After this game, James' career total score has exceeded the 36,000-point mark, becoming the third and youngest Mr. 36,000 points in NBA history after Abdul-Jabbar and Malone (36 years and 364 days). Unlike the above two great historical celebrities, James's comprehensiveness is unmatched. Looking at the history of the NBA, James is the first player to achieve at least 36,000 points, 9,000 rebounds and 9,000 assists.
It is worth mentioning that according to the statistics provided by ESPN, from 1000 points to 36,000 points, every thousand digit mark between, James is the youngest record rewriter in the history of the league. And the greatest thing about James is his unparalleled stability and efficiency. And in the future, this will continue for a long time. Without a more serious injury, James has a great hope of breaking the league's all-time scoring record of 38,387 points held by Abdul-Abdul-Jabbar, and even have the opportunity to achieve an epic monument of 40,000 points + 10,000 rebounds + 10,000 assists in his career.
After today's game, career and retirement must be a matter of media mention, but James said that his career has entered the second half, but when it will fall into the rest is still unknown.
"I knew I was on the other side of the mountain, compared to the mountain I was on before. I know that. But I thought about it — where I was in the retirement. I'm still playing at such a high level that I don't think too much about it. But I'm in my 19th year of my career and I'm not going to play for 19 more years. So I'm definitely not in the half of my career. I came to the other side of the mountain. James said: "It's just to see where the game will take me." We will see where my body and mind take me. As long as my mind is clear and my body is in shape, I can participate in this competition. But at the end of the day, the game will tell you the answer, your body will tell you, and your mind will tell you. I've invested enough time in training and in the league for a long enough time. In the future, when the time comes to retire, I will gladly accept it. ”
However, in terms of James' current performance and status, it is obviously too early to talk about retirement. In the past five games, James, who is about to turn 37, is still the absolute pillar of the Lakers, averaging 34.4 points, 10 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.4 blocks per game, and the shooting percentage is as high as 58.2%. In front of James, the shackles and shackles of the years were easily shattered by him, and in december, James averaged a terrifying 39.4 minutes per game, second in the league after Durant. Under the high load, James has contributed 30+ performances in a single game for five consecutive games, becoming the first player in history to be able to do so. After today's game, James' average of points per game this season has reached 27.6 points per game, which is his seasonly high since 2009-10 (29.7 points), and the myth of his immortality continues.
Physically and personally, it may only be a matter of time before James reaches the 36,000-point milestone. Compared to this greatness that is destined to happen, James's ability to embrace change and actively seek change later in his career is even more breathtaking.
Over the past five seasons, James' percentage of shots on the outside has continued to break new career highs. Just when people thought that the transformation of a tall point guard would become the transformation template and direction for the later stages of his career, the legend who led the team to win the championship in 2020 as a starting point guard has become the starting center of the Los Angeles Lakers this season.
James had started 1,332 regular-season games in his career before today's game with the Rockets, but had never played a single game in the starting fifth position. Today, James, who has been playing in the league for 19 years, has a new experience.
"I just try to do anything for this team that requires me to do. Either play as a point guard in previous years, or play as a striker, which is also my natural position, or play center like this tonight, and I am the first starting center in my career. We were able to end a five-game losing streak and we needed that performance every second. James said: "I'm proud that I can play in five positions, at least I can understand the idea of five positions. I can play any type of game, it's my 19th year basketball career, and I've had success on the offensive end of my entire career. If it's a game that requires a big squad, I can be successful, and if the game needs to play a small squad, I can also succeed. My style of play is not monolithic. ”
"As a basketball guy, it's such a privilege to see this guy perform. Oh my God, this guy's performance is unbelievable. The team's acting coach Fitzdale said: "LeBron's plus-minus when playing the fifth position is too good and we plan to continue to use this lineup in future games." ”
This season, for James at this stage, neither the team role nor the personal stats are the first goals he pursues. How to lead the team out of the current predicament is what he cares about most.
"It's challenging. We've had people in and out of our squad all the time, and I've been suspended for one game because of injury issues or COVID-19 health and safety deals. The squad has changed too much. Recently, we've started to welcome players back. We welcomed Howard back, and Bradley came back tonight, and he was important to us. We also have veterans like Collison and Johnson. We played with great energy from the very beginning, and I, Wei Shao, Munch and Anthony all had good performances. James said: "But yesterday we had a great training session in the training gym, it was the first time in a long time that we had training. We really ran back and forth on the pitch, practicing a lot of offensive and defensive tactics, about the way we wanted to play, how we beat certain teams and who would play at certain times. So yesterday's training was crucial for our team. ”
"Because of all the things that have happened this season, we haven't played in the same game with a full squad. We had planned a few training sessions, and then four or five players came out to trigger the agreement and the training was canceled. So, as we keep coming back with players, hopefully Ariza, Rivers and Davis will come back soon. We're going to keep honing our playing habits, we're going to keep honing the chemistry on the field. We also try to study video, and then when we can really train, we can also hone those habits. As I said, yesterday's training was fantastic, we needed it so much, and then tonight at Houston, everything came together and was reflected in the game. ”
Wen | Dong Chuangshuo
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