Woike:

Over the past 1,297 games, regardless of sprained ligaments or torn tendons, LeBron James somehow, someway figured out how to score at least 10 points. Thursday in Toronto, in the final seconds, he could have bullied a smaller defender and flung a shot at the rim. He could have tried to add another game to an already untouchable record.

Instead, James wrote his own ending, wrapping up a streak that began 15 days after Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg was born, with a bullet assist to Rui Hachimura in the left corner for a game-winning 3.

“This is the best way. If it had to end, the perfect ending for the streak is tonight,” James told The Athletic. “It’s literally who I am. That’s who I am. … It’s always been about: ‘How can I win the game? How can I make the right play and win the game?’ That streak just happened.”

Pregame, James rolled his eyes when I pointed my phone camera at the rim, waiting for him to end his warmup with some kind of dunk.

Eventually, he obliged.

After his postgame media session, he smiled and found the natural person to blame for 1,298 not happening. “You f—ing jinxed me,” James joked.

Everyone seemingly conspired to make sure the record would fall Thursday. James started the game in a miserable rhythm, air-balling his first jump shot well over the rim. By the end of the first half, two other misses rocketed off the backboard without hitting the iron.

James’ hands were either glued to his hips or pulling the collar of his uniform over his face to hide his shallow breaths.

“He’s finally looking his age,” one NBA scout texted.

Six games into his 23rd season, James isn’t willing to concede that. The rhythm, he said, is because of his late start to the season. Never before had he missed an entire training camp and preseason, let alone the first 14 games of the season, because of an injury. But this season, an irritation in his sciatic nerve left the Lakers to start — and win — without him.

KingBuddhaman

914 | 8 hours ago

If you’re gonna post this it would have been nice to include who the person he’s saying jinxed him is. Just my thoughts

Potential-Host-6281 | Canada

269 | 8 hours ago

I think Woike is implying that it was him.

AashyLarry | MIA

194 | 8 hours ago

I forgot it was paywalled, my fault. I added more of the article.

The person who “jinxed” him is the author, Dan Woike.

Whoareyoutho9

42 | 7 hours ago

By doing what?

asetniop | Celtics

91 | 5 hours ago

Hired a bunch of witches on Etsy to hex him.

Whoareyoutho9

10 | 5 hours ago

Now THAT actually makes sense

asetniop | Celtics

4 | 5 hours ago

I’ve no doubt all those poor women went underground which is unfortunate because hitting a full court buzzer beater like that really would have been great for business.

pollinium | MIN

2 | 4 hours ago

I’m charging that shit back immediately if I pay for a hex and get a jinx instead

truthisfictionyt |

12 | 5 hours ago

Having him dunk during warmups

Whoareyoutho9

-4 | 5 hours ago

Hmm. I mean I get where you came to that conclusion based on the info we have but that doesnt make any sense tho

truthisfictionyt |

13 | 5 hours ago

It’s literally in the body of the text?

Orchestra_Oculta | BOS

2 | 5 hours ago

He’s right though, why is that a jinx? It says in the article that he always ends warmups with a dunk. The jinx would be not doing the post warmup dunk. For context I understand what Woike is implying, it’s just Lebron’s joke sorta doesnt make sense. Edit: leaving this up for the warranted lashings, the article does not, in fact, say Lebron always ends warmup with a dunk. My brain made that up

truthisfictionyt |

0 | 5 hours ago

I’m just answering the question I’m not sure what Lebron was saying either. Maybe that he scored 2 points too early or something

Whoareyoutho9

3 | 5 hours ago

Yea thats why I said i understand where you got that from. Can you explain how that makes any sense?

truthisfictionyt |

1 | 5 hours ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/s/lCVXcsLn1v

Whoareyoutho9

2 | 5 hours ago

Gotcha. Thanks for trying

NeptrAboveAll | HOU

0 | 3 hours ago

Well a Jinx isn’t a real thing it’s more of a superstition. So to explain it you’d have to explain that jinxes are even real. Good luck having anyone in the universe do that.

Signiference | Thunder

1 | 5 hours ago

Context and reading comprehension.

Whoareyoutho9

3 | 5 hours ago

Right. Can u help a brother out?

captainn01 | Heat

6 | 6 hours ago

Ask LeBron

eutectic_h8r | Raptors

44 | 6 hours ago

Overheard in Lakers post-game media session: “He got me,” LeBron said of Woike’s jinx over him. “That f***ing Woike boomed me.” LeBron added, “He’s so good,” repeating it four times. LeBron then said he wanted to add Woike to the list of journalists he interviews with this summer.

Unfair_Prompt1155

1 | 31 minutes ago

Even if it wasn’t paywalled, prob should just include context anyway, imo.

Equivalent_Rent5396

2 | 7 hours ago

It was me

heat_fan_ | Raptors

146 | 8 hours ago

Honestly the perfect way for the streak have ended.

Don’t think anyone’s touching that record anyways

Cultural-Jello4042 | Suns

60 | 7 hours ago

Can you imagine if Rui missed that shot

Big_Shot_Rob | Lakers

251 | 7 hours ago

It would have gone into OT and his streak would be alive

Cultural-Jello4042 | Suns

38 | 5 hours ago

Damn it Rui you just had to do your job

wallysmith127 | Lakers

28 | 4 hours ago

Nah it’s better this way. The streak, as insane as it is, doesn’t materially change it it’s 5 or 10 games longer, even if it lasts till the end of his career. No one’s touching it either way.

But here, he ends it on his own terms, Rui feels his first game winner and the weight of the streak is no longer there.

The legacy of it feels stronger now, IMHO

Big_Shot_Rob | Lakers

17 | 4 hours ago

I think Bron is the most happy with how it ended. Better to end on an awesome play than whimper into it because he was showing his age (not saying he did).

wallysmith127 | Lakers

9 | 4 hours ago

Yeah exactly. The “statpadder” accusations are ludicrous in general but in specific situations it’s obvious (like vs PHX). Would be shitty and embarrassing if the team bent over backwards to keep it alive and it led to an ugly loss (that PHX game was lost long before then)

Amazinc

3 | 3 hours ago

Yeah. At most maybe he gets it 50 games longer but he probably doesn’t keep it next season anyway. This was a crazy send off that everyone will remember and speaks to the way Bron plays basketball

wallysmith127 | Lakers

3 | 3 hours ago

Yup! The streak and how it ends will always be intertwined and it’s a perfect encapsulation of his importance to the game

Ferngulley26

4 | 3 hours ago

I mean 3 more games for roundness wouldve been nice

wallysmith127 | Lakers

1 | 3 hours ago

I kinda dig the random number that people are going to struggle to remember exactly right, ten years from now hah

tripleyothreat

0 | an hour ago

Which would have been better imo. Should’ve rode this streak til the end lol.

I remember a game where he kept the streak going, he had injured himself and had 7 points, he hit a corner wide open 3 then checked out. I think it was against the suns but I’m not sure

Big_Shot_Rob | Lakers

1 | 18 minutes ago

Nah

Dream4545

7 | 4 hours ago

Agreed.

Going off on a bit of a tangent, but it’s actually insane the amount of hate LeBron is getting at the moment for making a pass to the corner for an open 3 that won the team the game lmfao

Not surprised however, some LeBron haters are some of the most mentally ill people on the planet. Not even trying to bring any publicity to them but to bring up just one example, look at a channel like “Angry Old Hoops” who spends ²⁴⁄₇ crying about LeBron (Most of their video content revolves around claiming lebron isnt top 20 all time, how lebron rigs the entire NBA, how all lebron fans are subhuman “scum” (verbatim his words). The comment section of their videos is filled with evil humans claiming that lebron deserves to die, lebron needs to be killed, lebron is involved with epstein, etc.) They just posted blatant misinformation claiming that LeBron didn’t celebrate the win with Rui with a SCREENSHOT of LeBron being “away from the team” even though not even 5 seconds later LeBron would walk towards Rui and celebrate

These people are sick, and the brainwashed kids in their comment sections are already saying the most heinous stuff

JDangle20 | Lakers

1 | 4 hours ago

Nobody in the NBA currently has even played that many games sans LeBron let alone scoring 10+ in almost 1300 straight.

teslastats

1 | an hour ago

He will break it when he teams up with Bryce.

sewsgup

125 | 8 hours ago

also

“He’s finally looking his age,” one NBA scout texted.

countrybaba

176 | 8 hours ago

tf does finally mean, dude is about to turn 41 in 3 weeks. looking his age, for an NBA player, is retired somewhere on a podcast reliving his glory days.

he’s doing fantastic even if he was just a serviceable player.

HeffePlaya

89 | 6 hours ago

He’s finally looking 34

slowakia_gruuumsh | Spurs

22 | 6 hours ago

This fuckery is bound to end at some point.

we_hella_believe

51 | 8 hours ago

LeBron is finally looking human.

That’s how I take it.

Even_Tangerine_4201

37 | 7 hours ago

No. An actual human wouldn’t be an above average NBA player at 41.

iButtflap | Hornets

6 | 4 hours ago

right? lebron finally looking like a solid 60% of people who make it to the league’s peak. which is still good but not anything to write about unless they’re 17 or 41

porkchop487 | Bulls

-2 | 4 hours ago

60% of every players peak is a bit much lol. Hes not even an above average player this season let alone better than the average players peak. 47% TS and negative analytics that have him below replacement player level.

countrybaba

8 | 3 hours ago

relax its been 6 games, not even a significant enough sample size. remember

no training camp
no preseason
coming off injury

you dont judge a players analytics off of 6 games lmao

porkchop487 | Bulls

0 | 3 hours ago

Ok and you also don’t say he’s playing better than 60% of players peaks when he’s playing like this lmfao

-fallen | NYK

1 | 22 minutes ago

you can give goats the benefit of the doubt and not take seriously what people say about them in this kind of situation

Ok_Season_3917 | Lakers

13 | 7 hours ago

Everyone just forgot he was dealing with that mcl sprain he suffered in game 5 against Minnesota which kept him off basketball activities for 8 weeks, and then he went straight to dealing with his sciatica. No playing at all over the summer, no pre-pre mini Vegas camp, no actual preseason camp, no preseason games, he’s only played 5 games so far in the regular season lmao. Give it a few months and he’ll find his shot again

Just_Passenger5005 | Mavericks

10 | 6 hours ago

Lebron finally has an appropriate level of baldness for his age. Caruso can only hope to hit these heights.

IKel-Mate | Clippers

7 | 6 hours ago

tf does finally mean

That he hasn’t looked old despite being “old”. Why are you so riled up?

relax336 | Lakers

-6 | 6 hours ago

Why are you riled up?

IKel-Mate | Clippers

3 | 6 hours ago

I don’t know why I would be riled up. Im confused at why is he mad about what the scout said when it was clearly a praise

relax336 | Lakers

-12 | 6 hours ago

You’re confused because you’re making up emotions. And that gets you riled up.

IamMe90 | Bucks

5 | 5 hours ago

riled

You don’t know what this word means. Stop using words when you don’t know what they mean. It makes you look stupid.

relax336 | Lakers

-5 | 5 hours ago

Not even sure who you’re talking to. There’s nothing about my sentence that’s using that word wrong.

IamMe90 | Bucks

2 | 5 hours ago

Yeah there is, the guy wasn’t riled up. Being riled up means being overly emotional or extremely agitated. Nothing about his comments were agitated or overly expressive at all. You just used a completely irrelevant word to describe his comments because you felt like insulting him. Doesn’t make your use of the word correct.

relax336 | Lakers

-2 | 5 hours ago

I used that word because they accused another user of being riled up when they weren’t.

Did you not follow the trail? It’s ok.

IKel-Mate | Clippers

2 | 5 hours ago

You are the one making up emotions. I pointed out that he misunderstood what the scout said.

relax336 | Lakers

-5 | 5 hours ago

They didn’t misunderstand. The rest of the post clearly shows that.

Professional-Rub152

5 | 7 hours ago

For real. He’s finally looking the age he was when people first started talking about Father Time catching him.

Brobman11 | Nets

15 | 8 hours ago

That guys a dumbass. He’s come back from an injury and near seamlessly integrated himself into to the team. If he looked his age then that wouldn’t have happened

Chiesel | Nuggets

4 | 5 hours ago

The thing is, he doesn’t. Looking like a 41 year old would have him either at home on his couch or in the commentator booth. No, he just finally looks like he hit his late 30s.

Lucky13200 | Celtics

4 | 4 hours ago

I think it was pretty clear that the scout just meant he is looking old. People are being pedantic here.

tanishk_05 | Lakers

36 | 8 hours ago

This man is gunning for second all time in assists. Around 900 away and he’s averaging 8 per game he don’t care abt points now There’s a very real possibility he ends up with 44k point and around 13k assists which is insanity. Could get 45k points as well if he averages 20 over the next 2 seasons. More than 70k points generated by one singular player which would still be higher even if every stockton assist was a 3 pointer which isn’t the case. And 20k higher than anyone else close

Professional-Rub152

8 | 7 hours ago

Hes probably already there considering how many 3s he’s assisted on. (70k prf I mean)

Apart-Leadership1402 | Lakers

34 | 8 hours ago

Here’s the rest if someone wants to read it.

By halftime, James had missed all but two of his nine shots. He made no trips to the foul line. And every inch of open court he found on the offensive end required tremendous effort, with just 4 points to show for it.

He ran the floor for a layup to give him 6 points, but he shot just twice in the third. And in the fourth, with Austin Reaves resting, James got more aggressive but came up just as empty-handed. A layup where he got whacked in the head rimmed out without a trip to the line. And a 3-point shot rattled all the way down before it popped out. And though he got his eighth point on another fast break, a turnaround jumper to get him into double figures got swatted out of orbit by Scottie Barnes.

James made just one of his six fourth-quarter shots.

The final possession gave James one final chance. A double-team on Reaves got him a good opportunity against Immanuel Quickley, but his basketball DNA meant he zipped the ball to Hachimura for a game-winning 3.

A pass instead of a shot because it was the right thing to do.

“Being an all-time leading scorer was never a goal. Never,” James said. “I never had a goal of that. I wanted to lead the league in assists, multiple All-Stars and winning MVP and things like that. Starting a streak since ’07, no one says that. Beginning (in) 2007, I wasn’t like, ‘I’m about to start this double-digit streak.’ I just go out and play, and the game has given back to me, and it happened.

“And if it had to end, that’s the perfect way for me: making the right play.”

If there was a doubt about how the decision played out in real time, James hoisted his arms into the air in triumph as soon as Hachimura’s buzzer-beating corner 3 splashed through the net.

Coach JJ Redick was the first to greet James, saying the look on his face was pure joy.

Afterward, James said he didn’t have a reaction to the 10-point streak ending because the Lakers had won. But on multiple occasions during that streak, especially in his time with the Lakers, it either took a miracle or repeated blunt force to ensure he reached double figures.

Just Tuesday, James acknowledged needing to grind out every point to get to 10. It happened a season ago in Minnesota in a similar fashion. And in 2021, a high ankle sprain that would cost him more than a month had to wait for a 3-point shot to get him to 10.

Apart-Leadership1402 | Lakers

12 | 8 hours ago

“Anytime I’ve gotten my ankle rolled on, I’ve buckled and tied my shoes tighter and been able to finish the game — i.e., the time when I tore (a) ligament in my foot in Dallas. I just thought that was just a good turn and tie these up, and I ended up finishing that game and found out I had f—ing torn a ligament in my foot. At that time (in 2021), I was like, ‘Oh s—, he got me good.’ But I didn’t expect for it to be a f—ing high ankle sprain, where I was gonna be out for a while.

“So I tied my shoe up, made the 3, and the pain just kept getting worse and worse and worse.”

Those days became footnotes instead of endings. Thursday was the perfect day for the 10-point story.

But here in year 23, on a night when he couldn’t scratch out 10 points (“I won’t make that a habit,” he vowed), James said endings are always at least sort of on his mind.

“I think about it every damn day,” he said of his career. “But I could get too distracted at the notion of thinking about it, ’cause I have a job to do still. But it’s inevitable that it’s coming down the pipeline at some point. I would be lying to you if I said I don’t think about it.”

Thursday, he didn’t say more about that. One ending — and a perfect one at that — was more than enough.

LogicRyan

18 | 7 hours ago

He’s finally looking touchable for NBA players instead of far above everyone else. That’s still better than just looking his age

sanzhar1377 | Knicks

11 | 8 hours ago

lesuperstitious

This_Field_7872 | Hawks

7 | 8 hours ago

I’ll be honest i find this whole story kinda dumb lmao. LeBron didn’t pass up a wide open shot, he made the right play like he does his whole career. He even said before the play he was going to Rui. “LeBron passed out instead of forcing a shot” even if it was to extend his streak, is kinda a silly story

duplicatesnowflake | Clippers

14 | 7 hours ago

There are over 100 possessions in a basketball game so one possession doesn’t account for what happened overall. He could have theoretically forced a shot and hit the streak, but the fact that it came to that point means Lebron’s run was ready to end regardless.

It’s one of the most talked about active statistical streaks in the game and has been for like 10 years. It’s a big deal as far as regular season stories go. Every writer is going to look for their own angle into it. That’s sports coverage. Really nothing at all to be critical of here.

This_Field_7872 | Hawks

-3 | 7 hours ago

The breaking of the streak being covered i understand. Framing it as LeBron sacrificing the streak to make the correct play is what i find kind of silly

duplicatesnowflake | Clippers

4 | 7 hours ago

Oh my bad. Misunderstood. Yes I agree fully.

secretsodapop

2 | 4 hours ago

He sacrificed the last opportunity he had to extend it in order to make the correct play. I don’t think that’s deserving of praise, personally, but I understand it because a lot of players wouldn’t have done the same. I think those players deserve criticism much like players who wouldn’t take full court heaves because they care about their percentages more than winning. Being a team player and trying your best should be the norm.

sbenfsonwFFiF

4 | 5 hours ago

The story is a story because the streak is so significantly long but also because over the years people have accused him of hunting the streak. It’s true to an extent, he’ll try for it, especially when the game is out of reach but never puts it above winning

He had every opportunity to do so last night by taking the last shot over a rotating Quickley. He hits then it’s a game winner and streak is alive, he misses and it’s OT and he probably gets 2 more there. But he chose to pass it for the win

wxnfx

2 | 7 hours ago

Especially when he’s 4 for 17. Like sometimes (or when the Spurs are sagging) you just don’t have the touch.

WhoUCuh

5 | 8 hours ago

OP wants LeBron to crash out so bad.

In the famous words of Shedeur Sanders “That’s just not gonna happen”

The_RabitSlayer

3 | 5 hours ago

Anyone else find it a weird coincidence that just a game or 2 after getting flamed for leaving a game right after getting his 10 he actually loses the streak?

Atomic_Horseshoe

5 | 4 hours ago

Far from the first time he left a game right after getting his ten, and far from the first time he was flamed for it. I don’t see how this time was different from any other.

Stmordred

1 | 2 hours ago

I think the difference is this time he realized he really didn’t care about the streak. Might be that he actually saw the figurative finish line and decided that a “streak” wasnt worth playing bad basketball just to get his points.

amiabot--

1 | 8 hours ago

Paywalled

Potential-Host-6281 | Canada

1 | 8 hours ago

View this full article!

RspectMyAuthoritah | Lakers

1 | 8 hours ago

Who is the you that he’s referring to?

elausto

1 | 3 hours ago

There’s some potential pasta in this article

taperwave

-1 | 6 hours ago

more like jinxed the bettors who thought 1 more 10-point game was a layup. weird timing indeed

Due-Refrigerator-650 | Warriors

-6 | 7 hours ago

Stat pad final boss

Ok-Reward-7731

-6 | 4 hours ago

I take nothing from his brilliance as a player, but I find LeBron’s schtick so off-putting. I think it’s been a meaningful hindrance in a majority accepting him as GOAT.

[Woike] After his postgame media session, he smiled and found the natural person to blame for 1,298 not happening. “You f—ing jinxed me,” James joked.