LeBron James’ historic 10 point streak comes to an end in fitting fashion
LeBron James had scored 10 or more points in almost 1,300 contests heading into last night, but he passed up his final chance to extend that streak. His shooting has struggled since returning to the floor from his preseason sciatica, and he shot really poorly in last night’s contest. Still, with seconds left and a chance to hit that 10-point threshold, James passed for the game-winning assist instead. It fits a career-long theme for the future Hall of Fame player.
LeBron James’ legendary streak ends exactly how it should’ve
Throughout the years, LeBron James has always prided himself on making the right basketball play. Conventional thinking would say James ought to take the last shot or the clutch shot whenever he’s on the court, because he’s usually the best player on the floor.
But he routinely passes out of it. A James shot while covered isn’t a bad shot, but it’s not the best shot when someone else has an open look. That player isn’t as talented as James, but he’s not as open as they are, so he sometimes passes out of game-winning attempts. On occasion, it’s appeared like he passed up a shot entirely just so someone else could have the burden, but generally, it’s been the right basketball play.
So on Thursday night, it is incredibly fitting that James, sitting with eight points, passed out of a potential game-winning shot that would’ve extended his streak. Even if he’d missed, he could’ve gotten the points in overtime to extend the 1,297-game streak, but he wanted to win the game more, so he hit Rui Hachimura in the corner for the winning three.
James said he gave no thought to shooting to try and keep his streak alive and is just happy they won the game. "Just playing the game the right way. You always make the right play," James said via ESPN. "That's just been my M.O. That's how I was taught the game. I've done that my whole career."
Winning is what matters most, so James made the winning play. "He's such an unselfish player," Lakers center Jake LaRavia added. "He's just playing the game of basketball. He had the opportunity, but because of the player he is and just who he is as a person, he made the unselfish play, passed it to Rui and we won the game."
Because he made the right play, the Lakers won. Had he attempted and missed the shot, leading into overtime, the Lakers may have lost. In a conference where the Oklahoma City Thunder are already running away with things, every win and loss matters.
"I always just make the right play. That's automatic, win, lose or draw," James said. "You make the right play -- the game gods are always giving back to me." To James, keeping pace in the West and stacking wins is worth more than an admittedly impressive streak, even if it speaks to a bad trend for James.
Usually, the streak is never in doubt, but lately, reaching 10 points has been difficult. Twice in the past few games, James has needed late action to pass that threshold. He shot 4/17 on Thursday, including missing a shot with 1:01 left that would’ve given him 10. He’s shooting just 41.3% from the field this year, which is the worst he’s ever shot. He hasn’t shot below 50% from the field since 2019-2020, so this is a troubling turn. But even if the shots don’t fall, James can still clearly make winning plays. The stats will probably rebound, but for now, James will take a win after missing 13 shots.
