Turning Up The Heat

 

What else can LeBron James do in this season of excellence? James wrapped up a spectacular, record-setting month of February with an epic performance Tuesday night in a wild 141-129 double overtime win over the Sacramento Kings.

James scored a season-high 40 points, while dishing out 16 assists – the first NBA player to accomplish that since Kevin Johnson in 1994. What’s more impressive is the way James took over in the second extra session, scoring 11 points on 3-3 from the floor, and 4-4 from the line as he added three rebounds AND three assists. All this in FIVE minutes. The Kings, perhaps shellshocked by King James, managed only five points.

In the month of February, in which the Heat ran off 12 consecutive wins, James connected on a blistering 64 percent of his field goal attempts and scored at least 30 points eight times. His season totals are an astonishing 27.3 points a game, 7.3 assists, and 8.1 rebounds, while shooting 57 percent from the floor – easily a career-best for James.

As impressive as last night’s effort was by James, his Valentine’s Day massacre of the West’s best Oklahoma City Thunder was scintillating. The 6-8, 250-pound hybrid forward-guard-center scored 39, grabbed 12 boards and handed out seven assists.

There is simply nothing LeBron can’t do on a basketball court and that has rubbed off on his All-NBA running mate, Dwayne Wade. James’s unselfishness has led Wade to record one of his finest and most efficient seasons, averaging 21.5 points, nearly five assists, and five rebounds a game as he shoots a career-high 51.6 percent from the floor. With these two megastars in sync and on a roll, it’s hard to see any NBA team stopping a Heat repeat this year.