LeBron Scores 39 as Heat Beats Thunder

The Miami Heat cruised into the NBA All Star Break by beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 110-100 in a rematch of last year’s NBA Finals.  LeBron James continued his MVP worthy play by scoring 39 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.  His streak of scoring at least 30 points while hitting at least 60% of his shots came to an end (he was 58% from the floor), but that was of little consequence to either LeBron or the Heat.  The streak ended at an NBA record six games.

Miami leads the NBA Southeast by seven and a half games over the Atlanta Hawks, but more importantly, the Heat have a four game lead over the New York Knicks as the Eastern Conference’s top seed in the playoffs.   The Indiana Pacers are next at five and half games back, followed by the surprising Brooklyn Nets at six and half back.  Last year as the New Jersey Nets, they were 22-44 in the shortened 2011-12 season, and finished last the Atlantic Division.

With Michael Jordan turning 50 years old, there’s some debate among fans as to how LeBron and MJ compare, and who is or was the better player.  It’s way too early to compare the two players’ careers, as LeBron, 28, presumably has a lot of basketball left in him.  One stat that will be hard for LeBron to beat is MJ’s six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls.  That will be a difficult task to match, but LeBron has one title now and is on one of the leading contenders for another one this year.  If he can match those six championships, the debate will really heat up down the road.  In the meantime, let’s enjoy LeBron’s performances for what they are, just like we did for Michael Jordan’s.