From the beginning of his basketball journey, LeBron James, like many NBA players, loves Madison Square Garden, known as the "Basketball Mecca". How far is this affection? You can know a little bit from James' public statement that "willing to play 82 games in this arena in a season". When talking about the league's 30 teams' 29 arenas, James also called Madison "my favorite venue."
Therefore, if the NBA can really write a script, the most ideal and dramatic scene is naturally to let James surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Madison and be crowned the NBA's historical scoring leader. However, due to various subjective and objective factors, such a plot did not become a reality under the spotlight in New York. Before the game against the Knicks started, James was 117 points away from surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's historical total of 38,387 points, which is obviously not an achievable goal in one game.
However, even if he failed to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in New York, the 38-year-old James still has a lot to gain in his first trip to Madison in the 20th season of his career. Not only did he help the Lakers win a 129-123 victory, he also won his first triple-double this season.
As the distance from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's historical total scoring record is getting closer, most of the recent attention has been locked on James' personal scoring. But in fact, James has never positioned himself as a scorer in a pure sense, and he has emphasized more than once that he is a pass-first player. In this battle with the Knicks, James sent 11 assists in a single game. In this way, the total number of assists in James' career has reached 10,338, which allowed him to surpass Mark Jackson (10,334) and Steve Nash (10,335) one after another, and moved forward by two in the personal assist list. Location.
"It's a great feeling because that's what I'm willing to do on the court, and I like to get my teammates involved in the game," James said after the game. It's a cool thing when great players are grouped together. Mark Jackson played here [in New York], he was drafted by the Knicks. It's also a well-known thing that when When Nash was playing, I played against him so many times, his passing ability was so extraordinary."
In addition to passing the ball, rebounding is also one of James' good skills. In a battle with the Knicks, he grabbed 10 rebounds, plus 28 points, James got his first triple-double in the 20th season of his career. Behind this triple-double, there is also a brand-new record-he became the first player in NBA history to get a triple-double in the 20th year of his career, and he also became the player of Alvin Hayes, Karl Malone After Tim Duncan, he was the fourth player to get a triple-double after turning 38, and became the oldest player to get "28 points + triple-double".
Statistics and records are just footnotes. For James, who regretted the referee's misjudgment in the previous game, victory may be the most joyous ending for him. Just like many games in the past, James has been using his hard work to fight for the final victory. In the last 1 minute and 41 seconds of the fourth quarter, he made a key three-pointer to help the Lakers take a 6-point lead. Although the Knicks then scored three consecutive offenses to tie the score, James' defense against Randall gave the Lakers a chance for overtime.
This time, neither James nor the Lakers wanted to fall into overtime. They beat the Knicks 15 to 9 in 5 minutes. James' personal 4 points and 1 assist became the key to the Lakers' victory. "In my career, I don't think about records or how many points I score," James said. deterrence."
The away New York fans also appreciate James' ability very much. Although the Lakers gave the Knicks their 25th loss of the season, Madison fans will still cheer and applaud James for his wonderful performance. In the past, such treatment also appeared on superstars such as Jordan and Kobe, but when James came to Madison, the fans here may have more complicated feelings for him. After all, when James made a "decision", the Knicks were also the destination he considered.
Back then, in order to be able to win James in 2010, the Knicks spent two years clearing salary space. And James' 50-point performance here in 2008 and 52-point performance here in 2009 made New York fans full of expectations, and they gave him the "MVP" shout in advance. Although James did not choose New York in the end, witnessing and appreciating superstars has become a symbol of New York fans. This time, James enjoyed such a courtesy again.
For James, the greater glory is yet to come. After scoring 28 points against the Knicks, James is only 89 points away from surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. After the back-to-back in New York, the Lakers still have two away games to play, challenging the Pacers and Pelicans. If James plays in these two games and can maintain his scoring efficiency of 30.2 points per game, then he will have a chance to hit Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's total after returning home, that is, facing the Thunder on February 7. scoring record. The cabportal analysis pointed out that once the battle against the Thunder is not completed, James will have a greater chance of breaking the record when he faces the Bucks at home on February 9.
"We're just so excited as a team right now," Anthony Davis said of James. "It might be a surreal moment for all of us on this team, but it might mean more to him personally. ...and no matter which game he breaks through, we want to win that one.”
Compared with the excitement of his teammates, James, the protagonist, was very calm and did not feel more and more pressure because he was getting closer to this record. "[The pressure] isn't getting heavier," James said. "I'm going to do it, and my sense of it is, it's a matter of time, so I won't feel very heavy. And I'm not going anywhere for a while. , I will continue to stay in this league, at least for a few more years. I will do it, it is not a difficult thing for me."