Welcome to the B-Ball Brunch. Enjoy reading about my NBA musings about last night during your brunch hours.
As of now, LeBron James is still winning against Father Time.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Tony Gutierrez/AP.)
I wouldn’t say it’s easy to doubt LeBron James. But history tells us that if you’re in your 17th season in the increasingly taxing NBA, you’re probably not going to do well and your risk of injury is high. After all, LeBron is only one of 66 to reach that 17th NBA season. But let’s look beyond that.
Currently, LeBron is #40 in the all-time list of regular season games played. In the active list, only the immortal Vince Carter is ahead of him; remember that he’s in his celebrated 22nd season. Jamal Crawford, Joe Johnson, and Pau Gasol are also ahead of LeBron but Crawford and Johnson aren’t on any roster (Johnson was cut by Detroit recently) and Gasol has yet to play a game for the Blazers this season. Should Bron play 79 games this season (unlikely), he would pass Johnson. Bron is only behind Gasol by 23 games.
But let’s look even further than that. Because technically, you could be in a game for ONE minute and it would be added towards your game count. How many minutes has LeBron played?
LeBron is 14th in the all-time list of minutes played (46,407 minutes). If we’re counting the ABA, Moses Malone and Artis Gilmore are ahead of LeBron. The leader in that category is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at 57,446.
But that’s just regular season.
I’m sure you heard this before but LeBron is the all-time leader in playoff minutes played at 10,049. Combining regular season and playoff minutes, LeBron is 6th all-time in overall minutes played.
1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: 66,297
2. Karl Malone: 62,759
3. Kobe Bryant: 57,278
4. Dirk Nowitzki: 57,263
5. Tim Duncan: 56,738
6. LeBron James: 56,456
7. Jason Kidd: 56,199
8. Kevin Garnett: 55,701
9. Wilt Chamberlain: 55,418
10. John Stockton: 54,162
So LeBron is in that list of RETIRED all-time greats. That’s what makes what he’s doing even MORE impressive.
LeBron James is averaging 26.4 points, 7.4 boards, and 10.8 assists in five games this season. Last night, he went for 39-12-16. He’s in his 17th season. He’s got a lot of mileage on him. And he’s STILL doing this.
He’s far from the oldest to get a triple-double (Karl Malone holds that record at 40 years and 127 days). But no matter how you slice it, that’s still really impressive to do. He’s still defying Father Time at an age where most NBA players retire.
So what I’m saying is, doubt LeBron at your own risk. He might still have a couple more years like this. He may not be consistently the best player anymore but he can still get in his bag and do this when his team needs it the most.
(Knock on wood.)
Bullet Passes
*That game between the Lakers and the Mavericks was bonkers. Yes, I mentioned LeBron James with his triple-double and the Lakers took the duke. But Luka Doncic was extremely impressive in this one, too. He ended with 31-13-15. There’s another story surrounding Doncic, though.
Doncic’s head got hit by Dwight Howard. Honestly, Luka looked out of it and might have been concussed. It did not look great in the NBA’s concussion protocol. Doncic finished the game but at times, he did not look all there.
*As for Danny Green’s three that sent the game to overtime? Of course, Howard held Seth Curry. Those screens and holds happen all the time, even in clutch situations. They’re not going to tell you this about John Stockton’s famous buzzer-beater in the West Finals but he got free because Karl Malone held Clyde Drexler. Oops.
*So during the Rockets/Nets game, Nets coach Kenny Atkinson held up a sign while his team was on defense.
Yes, that is a picture of Dennis Scott. For those of you that don’t know, the current Turner analyst played for 10 seasons (1990-2000) in the NBA. He was mostly known as a 3-point specialist for the Orlando Magic. At one time, he held the record for most three-pointers in a season when he sank 267 in 1995-96 (Ray Allen would break it in 2005-06 with 269 and the current record is held by Stephen Curry at 402 from 2015-16).
So as you can see, there is a SLASH over Dennis Scott’s pic. The message was simple: DEFEND THE THREE. Atkinson said that he used the visual aid to help communicate with his players. As far as the rulebook goes, there is nothing illegal about what Atkinson did. But I feel like it might get changed soon because you know everyone might start copying and that it could get excessive.
*We know what happened with Stephen Curry and we talked about what that means for the Warriors. Well, the bad news continues as Draymond Green sprained his left index finger. We’ll know later on if he needs an MRI and if he’ll be out for an extended period of time. But good grief. If Green goes out, that means EVERYONE from that five-year run would be out. That curse could be light years ahead. Woof.
*Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s older brother, Thanasis, got into the game last night and promptly dunked on Wes Iwundu. Great moment for the Antetokounmpo family.
*Not my shot choice with seconds to go but as long as the shot is good, it doesn’t matter. Jayson Tatum sank the Knicks with a LOOOOONG two and the win.
*The Sacramento Kings finally won a game! Harrison Barnes was able to put back the Nemanja Bjelica miss for the win. There are no more winless teams in the NBA!
Watch This Play
Alex Caruso can easily fool you. But this guy is a major league dunker.
(VIDEO CREDIT: NBA.)
He’s had some bangers in the last couple of years. The dude can jam.
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
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