Game two of the 2017 NBA Finals was a game that the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James would probably not liked to be reminded of, but King James still made history during the 132-113 loss. LeBron James finished the match with 29 points, 14 assists, 11 rebounds, 3 steals and one block shooting a brilliant 67% from the field, but was not enough to carry his team past the overpowered Golden State Warriors team.
This performance though, put James in the history books. It was his 8th career triple double in the NBA Finals, which has now tied his with magic johnson for the most of all time.
LeBron James is doing something incredible that Magic Johnson has also done, and that is to consistently reach the NBA Finals. With the Los Angeles Lakers, Magic brought his team to the Finals in 9 different years, and won the championship in 5 of those appearances (1980, 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1988), battling Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics during this time period.
Whereas King James has reached the NBA Finals 8 times, and has won the title 3 times so far (2012, 2013 and 2016), with some chance to win his fourth this year against the Durant-led Warriors group. The ability for LeBron to tie Magic in this milestone, while playing in almost two less NBA Finals series' is incredible, and Johnson was sure to praise him for it.
Magic Johnson congratulates the King on tying his record
LeBron James' 8th Finals triple double had a lot of people talking, and one of those people was Magic Johnson. Magic took to Twitter to express his appreciative message for LeBron James.
This is some high praise from arguably the greatest point guard of all time to the greatest small forward of all time, a lot of respect.
Magic has also shown his major respect for King James in the past, with many tweets and social media posts to allow the fans and media to hear his comments. Both these players will go down as two of the greatest players in NBA history, and both have many great performances and accomplishments to back that statement up.
Awesome to share the most triple doubles in NBA Finals history with the future HOF @KingJames.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) June 5, 2017
LeBron might catch Magic in playoff triple doubles
At this point, LeBron James has the second most Triple Doubles in NBA playoff history with 18 in his postseason career. He only trails, you guessed it, the great Laker legend, Magic Johnson, who has 30 triple doubles in his playoff career. LeBron has been in the NBA playoffs since 2006, and will most likely continue to reach the playoffs for a fair few more years in the future.
Magic Johnson's postseason record might be heavily threatened, especially considering the ability King James has to put up a triple double, as shown with his career high, 13 triple doubles this season in 74 games. LeBron has also tallied two triple doubles so far in this years playoffs while averaging 32 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals and one and a half blocks per night.