Following a Wednesday night OT win over Denver, the Lakers are currently four games out front in first place of the Western Conference. LeBron James had his twelfth triple double of the season (32-12-14) in the win over the second-place Nuggets, and Anthony Davis chipped in with 33 points and 10 rebounds.
It was a statement win over the team closest to them in the standings, and what’s even more impressive about all this — the performance last night, but also everything LeBron James is doing this season — is that I don’t even think he’s in top gear yet.
This is one of those times I implore you to just sit back and think about how good LeBron James is, and marvel in his accomplishments.
James is 35 years old. He’s playing in his 17th NBA season. He’s averaging a 25-8-11 in 34 minutes a night, and he’s doing so while doing the active conservation thing he’s taught himself to do in this league, where he manages his energy levels over the course of a game so he’s able to do this night after night, year after year.
He, along with Davis, has led his team to first place in a loaded Western Conference, despite the fact that without the two of them, this Lakers team would be a lottery team. He’s also done this with Davis missing a bunch of games.
That’s just the easy-to-see stuff. What’s more impressive to me, I think, is that James is also building toward something bigger. Most teams go out and try to win games every night. James does that, but he’s also going out and trying to see which of his teammates will be ready to go come playoff time.
You can see it night to night. James will work to get teammates looks, or he and Davis will challenge younger guys to step up. For many of the complementary players on the team — Kyle Kuzma especially — this season has turned into an 82-game audition to see who is ready to make the rotation come playoff time.
This is all James. Or a lot of it is. He’s building toward something, seeing who can hang, working on sets, figuring out how everyone can fit in, because he knows there’s another juggernaut lurking in their city — the Los Angeles Clippers. This whole season is about building toward the postseason, to figuring out his team, and who will be able to take on James Harden and the Rockets or Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers.
James has done this stuff for a while. He’s long used the regular season as a chance to experiment and see which of his co-stars will be able to do it when it’s crunch time.
But he’s doing that now, while nearly averaging a triple double, at age 35, while also leading the Lakers to first place in the Western Conference.
It’s flabbergasting. I don’t have much more of a point than that. It’s just something we should all be appreciating. It’s why I think this might be his most impressive season yet. You can’t even say he’s in the weaker conference anymore.
LeBron James in the Western Conference, he’s 35, his team is in first place, and he’s still one of the five most dominant players in the league. How is that even a real thing?
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