LeBron James made history once again, not only coming out with a historic 26-point comeback win against the Indiana Pacers, but recording the second-most playoff triple-doubles (17) after Magic Johnson‘s 30.
The King put up 41 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists as he rallied his team back from the grave, slowly cutting into a massive Pacers lead.
This might have been James’ playoff masterpiece, as he scored and assisted on 73 total points in the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ Game 3 win — the most in his playoff career, per ESPN Stats & Info.
LeBron James is in a zone. 👑
The King has a triple-double (34p/11r/12a) as Indiana leads 104-103 with 4:55 left to go! #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/2PcHBGVwB1
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 21, 2017
The Cavaliers had only a slim 1.2 percent chance to come out a winner after trailing by 25 at the half, but to surpass such odds, they required an inspired performance from James.
To put his performance in perspective — there have only been seven 40-plus-point triple-doubles in NBA playoff history and two of them have happened within the last 24 hours — James last night and Russell Westbrook‘s 51-point triple-double explosion against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night, per Elias Sports Bureau.
LeBron James posted his 17th #NBAPlayoffs triple double, second all-time behind Magic Johnson (30) pic.twitter.com/bn4RZEBTOc #NBA
— Davide Chinellato (@dchinellato) April 21, 2017
Following this special outing, the Cavs seemed to have found their groove with three straight wins after losing the last four games of the regular season, but they will need Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love to have better outings than this one (combined 26 points, 8-of-29 from the field).
