The Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors met up on Saturday in Northern California, and for nearly four hours, they treated basketball fans to an instant classic.
Both teams went back and forth in a thrilling contest that required two overtimes to finish. In the end, the stars on the floor played at a very high level as the Lakers pushed past Golden State for a 145-144 victory.
LeBron James led the way with a vintage performance: 36 points on 14-of-25 shooting, 12 assists and 20 rebounds in 48 minutes. In doing so, he became the oldest player in NBA history to record a triple-double while scoring at least 30 points.
LeBron James the oldest player in league history with a 30-point triple-double 🤯 pic.twitter.com/FigaaGrLSl
— BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) January 28, 2024
At age 39, he is averaging 25.0 points, 7.6 assists and 7.5 rebounds a game while shooting a high percentage from the field and from 3-point range.
James also joined a select group of Lakers legends
Many have been debating James’ place among the greatest players in Lakers history lately. While this is only his sixth season with the Purple and Gold, he is starting to pile up some impressive accomplishments when it comes to team history.
His performance on Saturday made him just the third Laker ever to have at least 30 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists in a single game.
WHAT A NIGHT FOR LEBRON JAMES.
👑 36 PTS
👑 20 REB (career high)
👑 12 AST
👑 Game-winning FTs in 20TLeBron becomes the third @Lakers player (Elgin Baylor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) with 30p/20r/10a in a game. pic.twitter.com/YWhsgStsxH
— NBA (@NBA) January 28, 2024
Anytime someone is mentioned alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Elgin Baylor, it means he’s doing plenty of things at a very high level.