The NBA community is still buzzing about Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo’s 83-point game on Tuesday. It was the second-highest individual scoring effort in league history, putting him past Kobe Bryant in that department, and plenty of people are still outraged about the allegedly farcical nature of how it happened.
That game has seemingly resulted in a reevaluation of how certain statistical feats or records are attained and how legitimate they are. Veteran NBA reporter Ric Bucher discussed this on a recent episode of his “On the Ball” podcast, and he used it as an opportunity to take a shot at LeBron James.
Bucher said that when James recently became the oldest player to record a triple-double, he was “stat chasing.”
“LeBron James has stayed in games to achieve some sort of statistical mark so routinely now that we’re almost numb to it. The latest being the oldest player to ever achieve a triple-double… the game was out of hand, there was no reason for him to be on the floor. … The guy is staying around at age 41 just to get an extra rebound, just to say in the history books, when everybody forgets how it was done, that he was the oldest guy to get a triple-double. That is stat chasing. That is undermining the statistical achievement.
“And with LeBron, he loves to say that he’s never cheated the game. And it seems like, not only with LeBron, but a lot of people these days, every declaration is actually a confession.”
This lines up with how many people these days accuse James of padding his stats at the expense of his own team. That game in question took place on Feb. 12 against the Dallas Mavericks, who are among the worst teams in the Western Conference. The Los Angeles Lakers won that game by 20 points, and James didn’t achieve his triple-double until the 2:05 mark of the fourth quarter, when he grabbed his 10th rebound. He exited the game shortly afterward with 28 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists.
As Bucher alluded to, that game was lopsided throughout the fourth quarter. Los Angeles started the period up 96-82, and its lead didn’t drop below 12 points the rest of the way. After the Mavericks came to within 107-94 with just under eight minutes to go, L.A. boosted its lead a bit, and the outcome was never in doubt for the last six minutes or so of the game.
It’s the type of thing that only gives James’ haters more ammunition.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Ric Bucher: LeBron James was ‘stat chasing’ for recent triple-double
Reporting by Robert Marvi, LeBron Wire / LeBron Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
