On Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers routed the Houston Rockets in a 112-102 victory where James poured in 36 points with seven rebounds to boot. While the 35-year-old James is already making history with his unprecedented production in season 17 of his career, he also made real history last night by passing Derek Fisher for all-time playoff wins with his 162 playoff win.
“It’s very humbling and it’s something I never dreamed of,” James said. “I never came into the league as a kid saying, ‘I want to be No. 1 in playoff wins.’ I always said I want to be a part of a winning culture and be a winning player and do whatever it takes to help my teammates win. And this is the result of it.”
Fans and media are in awe of James’ ability to defy aging and continue elite production for the longest stretch of time except maybe Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Fellow players and teammates are also in awe, including, teammate and star big man Anthony Davis. “It seemed like he’s drinking from the fountain of youth,” Davis said. “The thing he’s able to do on the floor still, head still touching the rim, still taking big shots, still playing physical, it’s all a testament to hard work and the dedication to take care of his body. So I’m pretty sure we’ll be seeing another record being broke Thursday.”
Despite the game three loss and the history that was made, the Houston Rockets are not out if this series only being down 1-2 with game four on Thursday night. On Tuesday, it seemed like James had found his old playoff mindset that had seemed to be missing until now with his continuous barreling to the rim and attacking the smaller Rockets defenders. But with Houston’s weird style where they take at least 50 threes a game, it always feels like they can beat anybody at any time if they can just make 20 of those threes. Houston is on the ropes, but if they can bring it on Thursday then this series might end up going seven.
