On January 1, 2022, Beijing time, the Lakers defeated the Blazers 139-106 at home, playing the most enjoyable victory of the season so far, which can also be regarded as the New Year for Chinese fans. LeBron James efficiently got 43+14+4 in this game, creating a number of milestones, including a data that surpassed the "LOGO man" Jerry West.
Before this game, the Lakers had won only one of the 7 consecutive regular season games, and the regular season win rate this season had already fallen below 50%, and the Lakers' record was based on James's continuous explosive performance, which was indeed disappointing for the Lakers. Fortunately, the Lakers ushered in a big win in the first game of the new year, and James played better.
In this game, James only played 29 minutes, hit 16 of 26 shots, shot 61.5% from the field, including 5-of-10 shooting outside the three-point line, hit 6 of 9 free throws, got 43 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks, and had no mistakes and only 1 foul.
This is the 67th regular season game of James's NBA career with a single game score of 40+, and the NBA history list with this data officially completed the surpassing of Lakers star Jerry West, rising to 11th in history, just one gap away from 10th place George Gwynn. It is worth mentioning that among the NBA active players, only James Harden has scored more games than James in a single game in the regular season, while Kevin Durant, who ranks third in the regular season, has 8 fewer games than James.
This is also the 25th regular season game of James's NBA career to get 40+ points and 10+ rebounds, in this data NBA history list officially surpassed Walter Bellamy to rise to 16th place in history, and only Harden, Davis and Westbrook have received such data more times than James among the NBA active players. It is worth mentioning that David Robinson has only obtained such data in 15 regular season games in his entire NBA career, and Moses Malone has only obtained such data in 22 regular season games.
This is already James' 30+ points in seven consecutive regular season games, and he has also become the first Lakers player to score 30+ in a single game since 10 consecutive regular season games from December 7 to December 26, 2012!
James led the Lakers to one of the biggest points differences of the season with a dominant performance, which was crucial for the Lakers in the trough. However, whether this is the beginning of a flash in the pan or a rise, it will take time to give an answer.