After the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 133-89 in the NBA In-Season Tournament quarterfinal on Thursday, LeBron James made sure to remind everyone that “it’s still December,” but he didn’t play like it was just any ordinary regular-season game.
Playing with the intensity and accuracy we’ve seen throughout various peaks of his storied 21-year career, James was on a mission from the start, this time guiding the Lakers to the In-Season Tournament title game in Las Vegas on Saturday against the Indiana Pacers.
James contributed an effective total of thirty points, eight assists, and five rebounds on nine of twelve shots in the victory; these are good figures, to be sure, but not particularly noteworthy considering his prior achievements. The special thing about this game, though, was that he was able to reach those totals in only 23 minutes, or 22 minutes and 32 seconds, precisely, because of the Lakers’ enormous early advantage.
James made NBA history a few weeks before his 39th birthday when he had at least 30 points, five assists, and five rebounds in a game that lasted little more than 23 minutes. James put up an incredible performance, recording a game-high plus-36 in the box score and not committing a single turnover.
After surpassing Abdul-Jabbar to take the top spot on the all-time points chart from the previous season, James moved on to become the NBA’s all-time minutes leader (regular season and playoffs combined) last week. James has far too many accomplishments in his record book to mention them all, but it’s quite amazing that in his 21st season, he continues to create history.
When the Lakers play for the first-ever NBA Cup on Saturday, he’ll attempt to continue doing the same thing.
“It’s still December, so I’m not getting too crazy about the whole thing,” James told TNT on the court after Thursday’s win. “This thing has been great, the In-Season Tournament, but it’s still December. … We’re a team that wants to get better every single game we go out there, every quarter, every possession. So, we’ve got another opportunity to do that.”