SUMMARY
- In a highly competitive game against the Golden State Warriors during the 'NBA Rival Week,' LeBron James delivered a remarkable performance for the Los Angeles Lakers.
- The game went into double overtime, and LeBron's clutch performance included making two free throws with 1.2 seconds left in the second overtime.
LeBron Raymone James Sr. turned 39 in December 2024; however, the king of longevity doesn’t seem to even consider the idea of slowing down. Although the small/power forward of the Los Angeles Lakers is approaching father time, his ascending minutes on the hardwood and scoring capabilities say otherwise. The ‘Akron Hammer’ is the face of the California team. And he proved that once again while facing off against the Warriors in the ‘NBA Rival Week.’
The Lakers went head-to-head against Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors at the Chase Center on January 27, 2024. The teeth-jittering game escalated to a double over time, as the franchises kept tying by the time the buzzer went off. Ultimately, it was LeBron James who made two free throws with 1.2 seconds left in the second overtime. He finished the game with 36 points, 20 rebounds, and 12 assists, scoring a 30-plus-point triple-double.
LeBron has seven 30-point career triple-doubles, which are the MOST for any player after turning 35 years old, per @statmuse.
Everyone else in NBA history? Only two combined triple-doubles 🤯 pic.twitter.com/gZpEquzKtm
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) January 29, 2024
It was the second time since 1990 that the Warriors vs. Lakers game went into double overtime. It is worth noting that the Lakers won the double by a 1-point lead against the Warriors last night. Not only that, after registering a triple-double, James has become the player to record the most 30+ point triple-double games, that too after turning 35. To summarize, ‘King James’ now has 7 games (after he turned 35 years old) in which he scored triple-doubles apart from scoring 30+ points.
The only active players to record
35+ PTS
20+ REB
10+ ASTin a game. pic.twitter.com/mlRJVUChiV
— StatMuse (@statmuse) January 28, 2024
Not only this, there are only three active players in the league who have scored 35+ points, 20+ rebounds, and 10+ assists. ‘The Akron Hammer’ is one of the three players, the other two being Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic. James has set some pretty high standards for a player his age when the roster is struggling to even register a win over the opponent. And the fans have some insane reactions about his new record.
Fan reactions to LeBron James’s seven 30-point triple-doubles after he turned 35
LeBron is breaking one record after another and is also setting the bar high for other players. As @LegionHoops mentioned James’ record on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), fans bombarded the tweet with many comments. There were all kinds of fans: those who were predicting James to be the next Michael Jordan and others who were proclaiming him to be the GOAT (Greatest of All Times).
There was one other sect that was a bit skeptical of his achievements and said, “Yeah, I bet you Russell Westbrook will shatter those cherry-picked stats.” A fan even wrote, “LeBron really ended the Warriors era.” Although there were enough criticisms, the positive comments seemed to overshadow the negative ones. After all, if LeBron has also found a way to deal with the criticism, then why not every James fan?