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After 22 years, NBA fans can still count on LeBron James to dominate at Madison Square Garden.
James put up his tenth triple-double of the season Saturday night to lead the visiting Los Angeles Lakers to a 128-112 win over the New York Knicks.
James posted 33 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists to lead the Lakers in every offensive category with Anthony Davis sidelined by injury.
He is now the only player in NBA history to record multiple triple-doubles while aged 40 or older.
AW. @austinw_93
Out of all of LeBron’s MSG performances, this has to rank near the top. A 33 point triple double at 40 is crazy. #LakeShow
After hitting the triple-double, James subbed out for his son Bronny James. The younger James took advantage of the opportunity by capping off the win with his first career bucket at the Garden.
The outing continued a long history of James’ dominance on the road against the Knicks. In 30 prior games in Manhattan, James has helped his teams to a 22-8 record (h/t NBA Stats.)
In those games he has averaged 28.0 points, higher than his career average, while adding 7.4 assists and 6.9 rebounds per game.
Heading into Saturday, he ranked third with 840 career points and second with 223 total assists among all visitors ever to play at the Garden.
Davis, who was diagnosed with an abdominal muscle strain earlier this week, sat out his second straight game Saturday night..
Austin Reaves contributed 27 points, while Rui Hachimura added 21, to join James in covering for Davis’ absence on offense.
The Lakers’ defense meanwhile held the Knicks’ top scorers, Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, to a combined 28 points. Josh Hart led New York with 26 points in the loss.
The Lakers improved to 28-19 with the win. Los Angeles is likely continue to leaning on James if Davis is still recovering from his injury when the Lakers return to action Tuesday with a road game against Norman Powell and the Los Angeles Clippers.
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