Los Angeles Lakers: 3 Lessons from win over Oklahoma City Thunder

LeBron James accomplished another feat that might be matched but probably never broken!

Lake Show Life will let you in on a secret. LeBron James wants to average a triple-double. LeBron fans can debate but they are wrong. James has his flaws, but his basketball I.Q. and finding ways to motivate himself are not among them.

The Thunder was the 5th team that got a front row seat to see the triple double show as he put together a stat line of 25 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. What gets lost in the play where Caldwell-Pope hit his big shot was that James was the one that knocked the ball out to get the hockey assist to finish off the Thunder.

With this triple-double, James added to his mile long list of career accomplishments. He is the only player in NBA history to collect a triple-double against every team in the NBA.

The swagger is back folks. he knows he has help and his only real weakness of shutting down when he sees no hope is not coming this year. He knows the Warriors dynasty is over and the sense of urgency is there. There is a championship for the taking.

Even though the Lakers allowed the Thunder to stick around, the game was over before halftime.

Side note: What in the world was Dennis Schroder thinking? The Thunder had a chance for the last shot of the half and he fires up a contested 3-point shot. But back to our originally scheduled post game report.

This is what the Lakers had in mind when they tried to explain the “positionless” basketball plan last year. After Schroder’s terrible mistake led to a long rebound, Rajon Rondo and LeBron James play a little game of “Beat the clock”. Rondo throws the lob and everyone that has watched a NBA game the last 17 years knows the rest.

James isn’t quite averaging a triple-double yet, but his averages of 25 points, 7.6 rebounds and a career-high 11.2 assists per game puts him off to a roaring start.

By the end of the season James will have company of having a triple double on all NBA teams. He beat out Russell Westbrook to become the first to achieve the feat. Westbrook, as of right now has only the Thunder missing from his triple-double list. Considering he played in Oklahoma City his entire career before being traded to the Houston Rockets this offseason, he will have his chance later on in the season when he faces his old team. Knowing Westbrook, he probably knows of LeBron’s exploits. He’ll probably match it.

Check out the other NBA icons that fell short of the triple double feat.

• Current Lakers assistant coach Jason Kidd is third with triple-doubles against 28 teams.
• Larry Bird is fourth on the list with 25 teams.
• Magic Johnson is fifth on the list with 24 teams.

However, with Bird and Johnson there is a huge asterisk. One, they played their entire career with one team. Two, the NBA had expansions on the back-end of their careers.

Right now, LeBron James is sitting back on the top of the world as the best player on the planet. To any player out there that does not agree, just read LeBron’s lips.

Good luck, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Dude’s coming.