6,907 days later: LeBron sacrifices his own history for the Lakers

LeBron James is a record-setting force. Debuting at 18 and still playing at 40 – he turns 41 on December 30 – across 1,568 regular-season games helps explain the historic marks he keeps stacking up. He ranks sixth all time in three-pointers and steals, fourth in assists, second in field goals made and games played, and of course he is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. Those are the headline numbers, the monumental ones, but there are subtler feats that are just as astonishing. One of them, a streak defined by sheer longevity, fell into jeopardy in Toronto, where the Los Angeles Lakers returned to winning ways after slipping against Phoenix. They beat the Raptors 123–120 thanks to a buzzer-beating three from Rui Hachimura after an assist from LeBron – a pass that was far more than a simple assist.

LeBron’s pass that rewrote the night in Toronto

That mattered because the Lakers’ No. 23 was sitting on eight points. And it had been nearly 19 years since he finished a game with fewer than 10, a run that began on January 6, 2007. The streak spanned 6,907 days and 1,297 games. Only 24 players in league history have appeared in more total games than the number in which LeBron has scored at least 10 points. Across that time he has shared the floor with 245 different teammates. The numbers are dizzying and the streak had become a major talking point in recent weeks. Seeing how he had not returned from his latest injury fully sharp, and with 40 years behind him, the possibility of falling short of double digits felt more plausible than ever. After Monday’s loss to the Suns he even took criticism because, before J.J. Reddick benched him for good with the game out of reach, he fired off several shots that some saw as an effort to reach 10 points, as if that target outweighed any hope of a comeback.

The moment LeBron proved everyone wrong

So when Austin Reaves fed him the ball with 3.5 seconds left, the score tied and eight points to his name, everyone assumed he would take the shot. To win the game, yes – but also to reach double digits. Instead, what emerged was the unselfish LeBron, the cerebral LeBron, the one who has always elevated the players around him. The superstar even when he isn’t the one taking the decisive shot. The LeBron James who has always been there, because that is who he is, despite those who sometimes draw him as a self-interested player. On the court he has never been that, and tonight he proved it again. Rather than drive to the rim – he had plenty of time – he swung the ball to the corner, where Hachimura stood completely alone. He simply followed what the game demanded, executed cleanly and Hachimura knocked it down. And the Lakers won.

Without Doncic but with Reaves

The Lakers arrived in Toronto without Luka Doncic, out for personal reasons. Marcus Smart also sat with physical discomfort. But Austin Reaves was available, and the team looks to him without hesitation when the Slovenian is absent – and even when he is not – to haul them out of trouble. This time he erupted for 44 points, 22 of them during a spectacular third quarter. At halftime Los Angeles led by nine (68–58), helped by the Raptors’ poor shooting. But Toronto sorted themselves out after the break and claimed their first lead with six minutes left in the third, which ended with a slim two-point Lakers edge (100–98).

Los Angeles added to that cushion early in the fourth without pulling away, and the Raptors responded again behind Brandon Ingram, steady all night with 20 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. With five minutes left Toronto built its largest lead at plus-three, but then rushed a few possessions, and a couple of officiating decisions drew debate, while Reaves stayed hot. All of it kept the Lakers alive heading into the final minute. Ingram tied it at 120 with 23 seconds remaining, and then came the final sequence: Hachimura’s three, set up by LeBron’s pass – an assist that is already one of the stories of the NBA season.

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