When LeBron James scored eight points in the NBA clash between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Toronto Raptors, a long streak came to an end for the basketball legend. For the first time after 1,297 successive regular season games (not counting the playoffs), LeBron had scored less than double figures. But LeBron left the arena happy after assisting Rui Hachimura for a three-point basket that proved to be the winning shot in the Lakers’ 123-120 victory rather than shooting himself to try to reach the double-digit mark.
The streak began on January 6, 2007. It was the longest such streak in NBA history by far: Michael Jordan had 866 consecutive double-digit scoring games, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had 787, and Karl Malone had the fourth-longest streak with 575. According to data pulled from AP Sports, during his streak, there were 1,266 times when the Future NBA Hall of Famer has reached the rank. Score 10 points at the start of the fourth quarter.
When reporters asked LeBron his thoughts on how the streak ended, he responded, “None. We won.”
Later, while explaining his process, LeBron said, “You just have to play the game the right way. You always make the right play. That’s just my MO. That’s how I was taught the game. I’ve been doing that my whole career.”
Lakers coach JJ Redick was full of praise for his aging star.
“LeBron is fully aware of how many points he has at that moment. He did it like he’s done so many times,” he said. “The basketball gods, if you do it the right way, tend to reward you.”
“I always make the right play. It’s automatic, win, lose or tie,” LeBron said. “You make the right play, the gambling gods always reward me.”
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The Lakers star missed the entire preseason and has only played six regular season games so far due to injury. On Thursday, he missed his first six shots.
LeBron has also been criticized in the past for passing the ball in big moments.
“I remember everything that was said negatively about me and my game throughout my career,” LeBron said. “And that aspect of it was one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard as far as making the right pass, making the right play. We’re in the business of winning basketball games and my whole life I’ve played this game that way. I’ve taught the game that way. I’ve won at every level I’ve played playing that way.”
(With inputs from AP)
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