Just weeks shy of his 40th birthday, LeBron James recorded his third consecutive triple-double, helping the Lakers overcome the Memphis Grizzlies with a 35-point, 12-rebound, 14-assist performance. No one at his age in the history of the game had ever achieved three consecutive triple doubles, tying the longest streak of his career, which however by his own admission was coming to an end: “I won’t play for much longer, one or two years”
There’s a month and a half to go LeBron James’ 40th birthdayyet the King continues to dominate on the pitch as if time never passed. This night also brought the Los Angeles Lakers back to life who in the third quarter were falling behind against the Memphis Grizzlies without Ja Morant and Desmond Bane, raising the level of his game and finishing with his third consecutive triple-double (fourth in eleven games this year) 35 points, 12 rebounds and 14 assistspushing the yellow and purple to their third consecutive success and keeping the Crypto.com Arena undefeated (6 games and 6 victories so far). “He achieved maximum dominance of the game and we would never have won without him” said coach JJ Redick, who kept him on the bench for less than four minutes in the second half despite being the oldest player on the field. No one at his age had ever achieved three consecutive triple doubles: to find another strip like this you have to go back to LeBron James of 2019 (at 34 years and 310 days, one of the other three occasions in his career in which he achieved three consecutive triple doubles, without ever reaching four in 2017 and 2009) and Jason Kidd nel 2008 (at 34 years and 291 days).
LeBron: “I won’t play until I make a fool of myself, I won’t disrespect the game”
“I’ve been doing this job for a while now, so I understand the moments and the inertia of the match. I stayed patient and took what the defense gave me, it’s nothing new” was James’ comment after the match, useful for the Lakers to climb back to sixth place in the Western Conference standings with a 7-4 record. When asked how much longer do you think you can achieve a performance like this?James admitted that the goal is close to being reached: “Obviously it all depends on what my head and body tell me, but I won’t be playing for a long time to be honest. I don’t know if it will be a year or two years, whatever it is. Like I said the other night, I won’t play until I make a fool of myself. I won’t be one of those who disrespects the game just to say I’m on the field. It’s not for me“.
