LeBron James continues to create his own history in the NBA after the 37-year-old became the only player to reach a triple double of epic proportions.
That’s 10,000 points (LeBron has more than 30,000), 10,000 rebounds and 10,000 assists.
James reached the career triple double 10K milestone with his 10,000th assist against Phoenix on Monday (Australian time).
It was a bitter-sweet night for James as the Lakers struggled against the Suns.
According to NBA.COM 381 players have notched 10,000 points in history, but only three players have more than 35,000 including James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone and of course James stands on his own for his latest insane stat of making 10K for all three stats.
Elsewhere in the NBA, a roar arose inside Barclays Center and for one of the few times on Sunday it had nothing to do with NBA superstar Kevin Durant.
This time, it was Kyrie Irving walking through the crowd to take a seat across the court from the Nets bench, an unusual view for his first home game this season.
Durant said he looked over at teammate Andre Drummond on the foul line and they smiled.
“Yo, like this is unreal,” Durant said, describing their exchange.
“Like, I’ve never seen nothing like this before.”
He then gave Irving a sensational show.
Durant scored a season-high 53 points, one shy of his NBA-best, making the tie-breaking three-pointer as Brooklyn beat the New York Knicks 110-107.
KD also had nine assists and six rebounds in his 60th career 40-point performance.
“That man’s insane,” teammate Bruce Brown said.
“He makes everything look easy out there.”
Irving had a nice view, still unable to play in New York.
There is no longer a mandate that spectators are vaccinated against the coronavirus, but there is still one requiring it for someone who works there.
Durant spent a good chunk of his postgame interview calling on New York City Mayor Eric Adams to change the mandate, calling it “ridiculous” that unvaccinated people, like Irving, could be in the arena but not play in it.
A view echoed by LeBron James.
“FACTS FACTS FACTS!! It literally makes ABSOLUTELY ZERO SENSE!!! They say if common sense was common then we’d all have it. Ain’t that the truth. #FreeKyrie”,” James tweeted.
The Nets (35-33) have now won three games in a row to consolidate their hold on eighth in the Eastern Conference standings.
In Boston, Luka Doncic hit a tying three-pointer with 1:21 left, Spencer Dinwiddie made the winner with nine seconds to play and the Dallas Mavericks beat the Celtics 95-92.
The Mavs (42-26) won their seventh in eight games to consolidate fifth in the Western Conference and snapped Boston’s five-game winning streak.
Doncic finished with 26 points and eight rebounds while Jayson Tatum had 21 points and 11 boards for the Celtics (41-28), who remain fifth in the East.
Joel Embiid recorded a double-double (35 points, 16 rebounds) and the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Orlando Magic 116-114 after overtime in Florida.
James Harden finished with 26 points and Tobias Harris added 25 for the Sixers.
Philly (41-25) were down by 17 points in the first half, trailed by 10 in the fourth quarter, and were behind 113-109 with 1:25 left in OT before sneaking home to overtake the Milwaukee Bucks into second in the East.
Elsewhere, there were wins for the Memphis Grizzlies, Los Angeles Clippers, Atlanta Hawks, and New Orleans Pelicans.
With AAP
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