Los Angeles Lakers: LeBron and the bench bully the Bulls, 5 lessons

LeBron James is sending a message. He’s not washed like most people claim he is.

Right now, LeBron James is in a zone. A triple-double zone that has lasted about three games and counting. James collected his third triple-double with a stat line of 30 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. This streak represents the third time in his career that he has accomplished the streak. The last two times it happened, his teams turned out successful.

The first time was back in 2009 with the Cleveland Cavaliers (The first time!) when they went to the Eastern Conference Finals. They ended up losing the Orlando Magic led by Dwight Howard (More on him later!).

The second time was back in 2017 with the Cavaliers (The second time!) and they went to the NBA Finals. They ended up losing to the Golden State Warriors. He is the first Laker to notch three triple-doubles in a row since Magic Johnson (He had four!) way back in 1987.

LeBron James is on a special run right now folks.

With Avery Bradley out and Rajon Rondo MIA, LeBron continued his duties at point guard. He looked like he was out to set the tone and avoid the constant slow starts that plagued the Lakers offense this season. First, he set up JaVale McGee.

Then the very next time down the floor, he dunked on the entire Chicago Bulls organization.

While the rest of the Lakers (Anthony Davis most notably!) seemed like they were in the mud, James held down the fort and would not let the game get out hand. This was no small feat considering that the rest of the team turned the ball over at a ridiculous rate.

Understand that these two plays were at the beginning of the game. The statistics that LeBron collected in this game were spread out over the entire time that he was on the floor. It’s one thing to collect empty stats that mean little when a team loses.

It’s another for the team to need every stat in the box score to make a comeback to win a game. In the analytics era where poor floor games can be covered with stats, LeBron’s stat line is legit and it showed that he was head and shoulders better than anybody on the floor.