In the first round of the playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers lost Game 1 to the Portland Trail Blazers, then rattled off four straight wins to take care of business. Thanks to their dominant win in Game 5 over the Houston Rockets on Saturday night, things played out the exact same way in the second round. Now, the Lakers are on to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2010.
As expected, LeBron James led the way, finishing with 29 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists in just 30 minutes to close things out. It was another incredible playoff performance from "The King," something we've become quite accustomed to over the past 17 years. This one was a bit special, though, as LeBron made some history in the process.
He joined Oscar Robertson as the only two players in postseason history to put up at least 250 points, 100 rebounds and 80 assists through the first 10 games of a playoff campaign.
LeBron James joins Oscar Robertson as the only players in NBA Playoffs history to record 250+ PTS, 100+ REB and 80+ AST in the first ten games of a single playoffs. pic.twitter.com/OA96O0xVZX
— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) September 13, 2020
In other words, that means averaging at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, which LeBron is doing with ease. He's putting up 26.6 points, 10.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists over the Lakers' first 10 games in the playoffs, and is doing so on shooting splits of 55.3/37.1/72.4.
He's not putting up the same outrageous scoring numbers that he did in some of his playoff runs with the Cavaliers, but he hasn't had to thanks to Anthony Davis. His frontcourt partner has been brilliant, and is actually leading the Lakers in scoring this postseason at 27.6 points per game.
But even if his scoring is down slightly, LeBron has been just as effective as he always is come playoff time, because he can control the game in so many ways. And for all the numbers that have previously been discussed, the most important might be this: When LeBron is on the floor in the postseason, the Lakers are outscoring teams by 15.2 points per 100 possessions; when he sits, they're outscored by 3.4 points.
