The 108th triple-double of LeBron James’ storied NBA career was not enough for the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday as Domantas Sabonis and the Sacramento Kings held on for a 125-110 win.
James finished with 28 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds for the first triple-double of his 21st NBA season, but a slow start cost the Lakers as they suffered their first home defeat of the campaign.
The Kings flew out of the traps against their downstate rivals, building a 19-point first-quarter lead from which the Lakers failed to recover, with Sabonis finishing with a game-high 29 points and De’Aaron Fox and Kevin Huerter adding 28 apiece for Sacramento.
Those returns proved James’ fine efforts in the fourth quarter, when he inspired the Lakers to within nine points of the Kings before running out of steam, redundant.
Sacramento coach Mike Brown, who coached James for five seasons when the pair were with the Cleveland Cavaliers, expects the 38-year-old to continue defying his age with stunning performances in the future.
“I don’t know if you can put a timetable on when he’s going to be done,” Brown said of the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
“I think there’s only one person that can, and that’s him. Well, maybe two, because his wife might be able to do something about that!
“He’s absolutely amazing to do what he does at his age. It’s phenomenal. I’m amazed every time we go against him.”
A historic night for LeBron
– 28 PTS, 10 REB, 11 AST
– Moves to 8th all-time in 3PM
– Moves to 5th all-time in triple-doubles
– Becomes the 2nd oldest player in NBA history to record a triple-double pic.twitter.com/rALlGvwNnh— NBA (@NBA) November 16, 2023
Wednesday’s game saw James break his tie with Jason Kidd to go fifth outright for the most triple-doubles in NBA history, while he is also up to eighth for all-time three-pointers made, inching clear of Jason Terry with his 2,283rd.
James also became the second-oldest player in NBA history to record a triple double, behind Karl Malone, who did so at the age of 40 while also playing for the Lakers.
Lakers coach Darvin Ham was pleased by his team’s response to going behind but was left to rue the mistakes which put them in that position, saying: “Whenever we get stops and we take care of the ball, we’re usually fine.
“I know the amount of scoring that we have on our team, particularly those five guys that finished for us.
“You’ve got to give them a chance to see what we can do. Maybe some turnovers, missed shots on their part, you can dig into the lead and make it a game, and I thought we did that.”
The Lakers, now 6-6 for the season, will look to return to winning ways when they visit the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday before playing three successive home games next week.
Sacramento, meanwhile, are at 6-4 after the first of a gruelling six-game road stretch, which continues against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on Friday.
Western Conference standings update ️
The Mavs pick up win No. 9⃣ of the season
For more, download the NBA App: https://t.co/oRfhdB8ZfO pic.twitter.com/hbjrpSJKcq
— NBA (@NBA) November 16, 2023
